CHERUB: James' Epilepsy
by ErinReilly
Summary: James Adams is suffering from a mystery illness, Lauren is hiding something from him and something is at play among the other CHERUB characters. OC's are present, but fit in well.
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

Lauren Adams stepped into the mission preparation building mumbling to herself: 'I wonder what this is about, everyone's at the hostel apart from James. But, no, surely nothing could of happened to him _again._' She inwardly shuddered as her mind conjured up an image of James, lying in a hospital bed; the only thing keeping him alive at the time was the machines.

As she stepped into Zara's office, she noticed John Jones sitting across from Zara and inwardly, her fears began re-surfacing.

"Sorry Zara, but I did knock"

"Oh, Lauren, I didn't expect you here so soon. Please, take a seat"

"Look, if this is about what happened at Bethany's party, I swear we didn't mean for it to go that far; it was just –"

"No, No, God no, Lauren it's about James"

Lauren cursed inwardly as she forced her lips to mutter out coherent words: "Wha- What happened this time?" She barely got the sentence out before her chin started wobbling, indicating that she was about to fall apart.  
"Oh sweetie, nothing as bad as _that. _It's just, well to put it frankly, he's suffered from an epileptic fit. He is awake and well because luckily, Bruce was with him and was able to stuff something into his mouth to stop him swallowing, or even biting off his tongue, but, due to the fact that it could happen again, and the severity of the mission, we will need you to step in and help James along."  
Lauren breathed out a sigh of relief, when something suddenly sunk in "Wait, epileptic fit? _What the hell would've caused THAT?_ Aren't the recruitment tests that you put us through supposed to show whether that's going to happen? How was this allowed to happen?"

**(A/N: I will go back in the next chapter to clear up some details, and have a flashback or two.)

* * *

  
****Chapter 1:  
**James Adams walked back into the Riesler's study, only to find an empty room and turn back around again, "Bruce? Brucey Boy? Where are ya mate?"  
"Up here James, I found something that looks too much like a diagram for hacking into the government's computer system"

"Alright Bruce, I'll be up in a minute"

James had been feeling sluggish all day, but right now he was experiencing pure and utter exhaustion. He didn't know what could have caused it seeing as he'd gone to sleep early the night before, well as early as his neighborhood would allow.

"James, James where are you? COME on mate. We've got to get this done before the family come back or Ewart will be spewing."  
"Bru- Bruce, I-I-I don't fe-fe-feel to welllll" By now, James word's were slurring as he struggled to stand up.  
"Jesus, James? James, are you alright? Look, I'll call Ewart and get him to come and pick us up, and we'll get you to hospital or something."  
"Tha-Thanks Bruce"  
And with that, James world turned black as he collapsed. Violent seizures ripped through James' body as Bruce tried to figure out what to do. As foam started pouring out of James' mouth, Bruce standard CHERUB first aid training kicked in and he proceeded to put James into the safety position before running up stair's to the Riesler's youngest child's bedroom. When he found a foam ball, he raced back downstairs and put it in James mouth, but not before making sure his tongue was well out of the way.  
Bruce fumbled for his phone as James body fell, motionless.

"Dammit, Ewart pick up the bloody phone." But all Bruce heard was the _Beep…Beep…Beep… _of an engaged tone. Bruce did the only thing he could think of and called the CHERUB hotline: "Unicorn Tyre Repair, how can I help you?"

"This is agent one-two-three-six and I need an ambulance dispatched to my current location"  
"Bruce, is that you? Why do you need an Ambulance? What's going on?"  
"Chloe, there's no time to explain, all I know is that James is having seizures and bloody Ewart isn't picking up his damned phone!"

* * *

James Adams wondered why all he could hear was: "Beep...Beep...Beep..."  
Surely, God didn't hate him that much that he would kill him and make hell a hospital. No, no he was asleep at the house they were using for the mission and he was going to wake up, ignore Ewart's instructions to "Have a shower and clean up", grab some toast and head over to the Riesler's.

Hmph, easier said than done. James groaned inwardly as he came to the conclusion that he was dead and in hell.  
"James, James, it's me Bruce. Well, mate you certainly gave us a shock."  
James could her sobbing coming somewhere from the other side of the room.  
"As i was saying, and i don't know if you can hear this but the Doc said to try, mate, you need to wake up. Not just for me, or Kerry or anyone. Do it for Lauren and yourself, James, please. We all need you to just wake up, prove him wrong mate, prove him wrong," and with that shamefacedly, Bruce Norris wiped away the tears that had gathered in his eyes.

James felt weird as if he was floating. His chest felt like someone was sitting on it, and the voices he could her made it sound as if he was underwater.  
"Jesus, James don't do it, don't do it" And with that, again, James body erupted with violent seizures as he struggled to keep hold of his consciousness.  
"We need a crash cart in here, stat!"

* * *

**(A/N anyone want more?)**


	2. Diagnosis

**AN: Okay guys, you've been very generous so far, so im just going to keep writing and i'll accept any criticism you have for me. If any of you are BETA certified and could help me out i will give you a great-big-cyber cookie! Or something :D**  
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, so far i have been unsuccessful of my attempts to purchase CHERUB. All Robert Muchamore!

**Chapter 2:**

Lauren tried to compute the news, but her brain was being stubborn and she just sat their, mouth agape, shell-shocked. He could not be right, James was fit, healthy and he was just…just…just _James_. The doctor was saying that it could be treated but there was only a 78% success rate. Which means, thought Lauren, that there's still a 22% chance that James would not survive.

Zara was having the same reaction as Lauren, but for her it was worse. Although Zara was chairwoman, she too had been a cherub and so, apart from her husband Ewart and her two kids Tiffany and Joshua, her only family was CHERUB. As soon as she was appointed chairwoman, she had taken on the responsibility of being both mother and father to these children. She had had nightmares of this day, and now it was here, the day when she had to think through the possibility of the loss of a fifth CHERUB agent.

Zara phoned Ewart and reassured him, once again, that even if he had picked up his phone, nothing would of happened differently. James would still be here, lying in the hospital bed, unconscious and, as yet, unaware of the life shattering news he would awake to.

Lauren walked into James hospital room, that usually would have been just another private room in this hospital, but thanks to the kindness of James' friends and the little other cherub's who knew, was filled with flowers and cards. _Flowers that might outlive him, adorned with cards that might not get read. _'Stop it Lauren, think about it logically, it's James, for Christ's sake! James, who can live through multiple beatings from Kerry for cheating on her and dozens upon dozens of punishment laps dished out to him for; overdue homework, smart-arsing and all the other mischievous things that he got up to' Lauren thought to herself, desperately hoping that, for once, she was right, and that James would survive.

* * *

The Cherub's on campus, and those at the summer hostel, awoke to news of James' collapse and the fits. Bruce, who of course was by James' hospital bed the whole time, was receiving texts from all his friends and from all the other CHERUB agents, who were desperate for any news, although praying that it would be good. Meryl Spencer James' handler,was in her office, back on campus, when she heard a knock on her door. She wiped away the tears before saying "um, come in"

The person who walked in was someone who Meryl was completely shocked by. "Wha-What are you doing _here?_"  
"Meryl, i know it's a shock, but as you know i was and still am James' friend. Can you _please _tell me **what the hell is going on**?"

* * *

James woke up to bright, and i mean bright, lights. _Beep-Beep-Beep  
_"Oh James, **THANKGOD!**"  
"Uhm, Lauren what is this? ............ Are you _hugging _me?"  
*sniff* "Well James, yo-youu-you" *sniff* "you had an epileptic fit and well" *sniff* "here you are" said Lauren, while gesturing to the room that held the scent of roses, and gerberas.  
"Hang on a sec Lauren, this may have been my brain re-adjusting, but i could of sworn that you just said 'epileptic fit.'"  
*nervous laughter* "Well...uh...you see James. I think you should wait for the doctor to come and explain to you, speaking of where is he?"

Bruce chose that moment to step into the room, competely unaware that James was awake. "Hey Lauren, the Doc says you should go and have something to eat. Your really looking pale these days." James was shocked to hear, what was that?, no, no, no, It wasn't _concern _was it? It couldn't of been. Could it?

James decided to announce his current state of consciousness, he only wished he had a camera so he could record the look on Bruce's face.  
"HELLOOOO Brucey ol' boy! Thanks for your concern but, nah, i don't think i could eat. You know what this life of luxury does to me" James stifled a laugh as he saw Bruce's jaw, literally, drop.

* * *

**(A/N: I know it's short, and for that i apologise. But, i promise that there will be more frequented updates to make up for that :) Any comments at all? And seriously, you don't have to review people, but it _does _help. Thanks loads, more updates soon, i swear :D**

**P.S. Special Prize for anyone who can guess who's in Meryl's office ;) Just put your guess in a review, and i'll get back to you)**


	3. Kyle comes to campus

**(A/N: I know its short, and i have NO excuses, other than writers block. Feedback is nice, but i'm not going to give you a quota or say "If i don't get blah-blah reviews im not going to write")**

**Disclaimer: ***sigh* Cherub's still not mine *sigh*

**Chapter 3:  
**Kyle Blueman walked through the halls of his old home, the place he'd lived for the best part of the last ten years. Normally, he'd be running around with James and Bruce, catching up with the latest gossip on campus or even just sitting in one of his friends rooms, talking and playing x-box or something. But today, today; GOD, today was _SO _different.

_He'd come back to campus as a surprise, he was going to be helping Mr Pike out with basic training, he'd expected to find James in his room, but to his surprise, all he found was an empty bedroom that was clean which obviously meant that James was either on a mission, or Zara had taken some action against the safety hazard. Not caring too much, just because he was on campus didn't automatically mean that James would be; Kyle decided to head to the cafeteria and see the rest of his friends. It was when he had sat himself down and looked all around that he finally realized something was wrong. CHERUB agents sat huddled together, some with tears streaming down their cheeks, others had puffy red eyes that showed they had been crying. Polly McKinnon walked up to Kyle, stopped abruptly and promptly mumbled: "I'm so sorry Kyle" before bursting into tears and running for the door. Kyle's head was spinning, what could she of been talking about? And then, just as that thought exited his head, another pushed its way in. Kyle's fork clattered to the table as he put two and two together. _**(A/N: **_**Kyle's thoughts**_**) **_**"James was missing, his room was CLEAN, he hadn't seen any sign of Kerry, Lauren or Bruce and Zara had wanted to see him after lunch, the CHERUBS were crying and looked, almost, scared." **__**Something had happened to James.**_

So here he found himself, outside Meryl's office, not being able to wait to see Zara. **(A/N: I'm not going to go through this convo again, I'll just pick up where I left off.)  
**"Well Kyle, you see, uhm James suffered an epileptic fit while on a mission. Luckily, Bruce was with him or he could have died. Now, don't overreact, as yet I haven't been told what exactly is wrong but I can assure you James will be jus-" It was then the sound of a brisk _"Bring, Bring…Bring Bring"_ cut her off. She reached for the phone as Kyle tried to make sense of the little he'd just been told.  
Through his confusion he heard "Oh Zara? Uh huh, Uh huh. Excuse me? Mhmm, is he sure? And that's the only way? Well I suppose so, yes, yes (Meryl nodded, completely forgetting it was a phone conversation) *sighs wearily* uh yeahp, I'll type up a report and post it in the cafeteria. Okay, bye" Meryl placed her hands over her face and sighed. Kyle cleared his throat, reminding her that he was here and that he had just heard a **very **confusing one half of a telephone conversation.  
"Oh Kyle, here *she hands him a set of keys* go down to the car park, find the silver toyota seca, and I'll be down in a minute"

It was only when Kyle was gone that Meryl let the knowledge of what was wrong with James roll over her and she found herself falling as her legs gave way and she started to sob. Wiping away the tears, her body shook as she attempted to stand up. Sure, James could be a pain but her heart held a soft spot for him, she wouldn't have wished his illness on anyone, especially not him.  
So as she walked out the door, grabbing her coat on the way, she vowed she would be strong, for herself, James and all the other Cherubs in her care.

Meryl and Kyle walked in on what any passer-by would of described as a happy scene, the patient in his bed surrounded by smiling faces. The patient himself positively beaming, but, because these two knew everyone in that room so well, they could see the way Zara was cracking, how Lauren struggled to keep up the happy façade, how Kerry was looking out the window, her face away from James so he wouldn't see the tears rolling silently down her face, her body trembling slightly. Bruce, strong, crazy, martial-art crazed bruce, Bruce who could now hardly stand up. Bruce, who's eyes now held nothing but sadness, those eyes that looked haunted.

**

* * *

**

- POV:  
She smiled as she pulled away from his lips. He returned her smile before clearing his throat and saying: "I better go"  
As she watched him walk away down the hall, she thought of how lucky she was. Great Boyfriend (even if they were keeping it secret), Great Family, Friends and those stolen moments with said boyfriend were heaven.  
She thought about how she'd come to know him, and the catalyst for their relationship; it was sad, but her situation was improving. She sighed happily before turning around and returning to the hospital room that now held said 'catalyst'.

* * *

**Doctors POV:**

"James, what you have is a rare type of cancer that occurs in teens. You have an** astrocytomas** (pronounced: as-truh-sye-**toe**-muhz) brain tumor. Astrocytomas are tumors of the brain that originate from cells in the brain called astrocytes. This type of tumor doesn't usually spread outside the brain and spinal cord and doesn't usually affect other organs. No one knows the exact cause of primary brain cancer. One possibility is that as the brain and spinal cord were forming, a problem with the cells occurred. Treatments vary depending upon the type and location of the tumor. If it is possible to remove the tumor, surgery will be performed, followed by radiation. Some patients receive chemotherapy as well. The chance of surviving a brain tumor depends on its type, location, and treatment. But there is a very good chance that if the tumor can be removed and additional treatment is given, the cancer can be cured. Now James, you are a fit and healthy young man, which greatly increases your chances of surviving the surgery. But, you must be pre-warned it is not definite that we will be able to remove it and, even then, we cannot promise that it will not grow back"

I knew that what I had just said would affect this young man in the worst possible way. As head neuro-surgeon at this hospital, I knew all about the existence of CHERUB and, knowing that this boy was an orphan made me feel all the worse for having been the messenger. A voice interrupted my thoughts "Excuse me"

"Yes, young lady?"  
"James took some tests for the recruitment, why wouldn't have this shown up?"  
"That, my dear, is a good question. One that I can only guess the answer to, see, with these types of brain tumors and as with most cancers there is no fore-telling, no signs or symptoms that show until you are infected. This tumor, scary as it may sound, was caught early on which makes me all the more positive about the outcome of the surgery."  
"Uh, huh"

I heard the patient mutter _"Positive he says, huh" _I took that as my cue to leave but, as I heard a second set of footsteps behind me, I wheeled around to face Zara Asker, Chairwoman of CHERUB.

"Ben, I have to know. What are the survival rates?" "Uh, Zara I discussed this with Lauren I believe her name is? The survival rates of this type of brain tumor are 78%" I saw her face pale violently before I quickly added "But those tumors are ones that have been much more advanced than his, he was just extremely lucky to have had the fit" "_LUCKY? **LUCKY? **LUCKY TO HAVE HAD AN EPILEPTIC FIT THAT COULD OF KILLED HIM? _Ben you better think before you speak next time because as with all CHERUBS, this case is close to my heart."

**(A/N: Okay guys, pay up. I have just added another 500 and something words. I want at least just one review, okay? Does that seem fair? If any of you have seen my profile, i just want you to know that im now sharing it with one of my friends :)**

We're going to co-write some stories and hopefully you guys will like them :D  
**  
Anyone guess who the girl and guy are in the "- POV" ? Snaps for anyone who can. Ciao x)  
**

* * *


	4. Kerry's reaction

**James POV:**  
Shit, Lauren was going to kill me! That is if the Astrocytomas? *If that was even how you said it* didn't first. I heard a commotion outside, but thanks to the soundproof walls all I could see was the vibration of the window. Lauren came bursting through the door, breathless, "Oh hey James, can you excuse me for a second?" and then, just as quickly as she burst in, she burst back out. I didn't have time to think of how I was going to break this to everyone, I would just have to do it and fast.

At that exact moment Bruce walked in, with red cheeks, like he had been doing some kind of physical activity, or blushing? "Bruce, I was wondering if you could gather everyone in the room. I need to speak to you guys."

"Sure mate, but why don't you wait until later. Zara's just had a go at the Doc, screaming and throwing stuff around. It was sooo funny"

"Uh, sure. Hey mate, I know Lauren knows but I was just wondering do you? Or anyone else for that matter?"  
*Bruce returned James' question with a sheepish grin* before saying "Yeah James, I do. I wish I didn't, but I do and I think the only people who don't are Kyle and Kerry. Other than Lauren: Meryl knows, Zara; obviously and me. That's it, I think; although I'm not exactly sure what they have been telling everyone back on campus."

"Greeaaaat. WAIT! Did you just say KYLE? OMG, where is he?"  
"Uh, I think in the cafeteria. I can go get him for you if you want?"

"Yes please, and Kerry as well. By the way, should I be expecting any more surprises?"  
"Uh, nope. None that I know of."

And, with that, Bruce turned around and walked towards the cafeteria to find Kerry and Kyle.

Kerry and Kyle walked into the room completely oblivious as to what they were about to hear…  
"Kerry, Kyle, please take a seat."

Kyle chuckled "Jeez James, since when have you been so formal?"  
James let out a humorless laugh, before launching into his explanation; of what was affecting him, what was going to happen and what could happen.

Bruce, Lauren, Zara and Meryl watched from outside the window as James stopped talking. Obviously, they  
couldn't hear what they were saying, but from the tears streaming down Kerry's face and Kyle's shocked look and his 'O' mouth, they knew what James was talking to them about.

Suddenly Kerry stood up, wiped her face and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Kyle was still looking shocked.

Zara was the first to speak "Well I guess now is as good a time as any to go in"

Bruce and Meryl moved for the door but Lauren said "You guys go ahead; I think I'll go check on Kerry"

The others nodded before walking into James room.

**Lauren's POV:**

I walked in the general direction that I thought Kerry had gone in, I hadn't been paying much attention but I was sure that James and Kerry had been happy over the past couple of months, James hadn't cheated in 5 months.

So, Lauren asked herself 'Why is she acting this way?'


	5. Author's note explaining absenteeism

**Hey guys, I am SO SORRY that I haven't updated in a week. Please, forgive me but I have a lot going on. My friend just got out of hospital after getting a cyst removed, and I have been spending a lot of time with her. Also, my mum and I had a fight the other day and she decided that I was depressed and that I needed to see a counselor. I was like "WTF?" So please give me two to three days tops, and I PROMISE you I'll have an update that is (hopefully) worthy of your reviews.**

You might be wondering why I am off because my friend is in hospital, answer is simple: I put her in there. Let me explain, we were mucking around at school and I accidentally kneed her in the stomach. A couple of weeks later she got worried because it felt 'hard' and so, after our other friend started telling her stories about girls who had cancer and stuff in their stomach and didn't realize it, she went to the doctor and got it checked out. Turned out she had a cyst on her ovaries and yeah, end of story. Everyone's saying that I shouldn't feel bad that I found it but, somehow, I still feel guilty and so am spending time with her while she re-cuperates.  
Please, bear with me. 

**I promise to update sooner, but if you are someone who doesn't want excuses, I'm truly sorry to have kept you waiting.**


	6. FINALLY! a new chapter :

**Kerry's POV:  
**Jesus was James going to cop it from me. I swear to god, he never stops pulling pranks. I heard a clank and then a "Owwwww, _SHIT! _Kerry?" I knew who it was and I **did not** want to talk to her.

Even though deep inside I knew that what the doctor was saying had to be true, If I thought of it as another of James' pranks then, at least for another couple of hours, I could hold off the title-wave of hurt that threatened to drown me. Hadn't I cried enough for this boy?

With Becky, Johanna and probably countless other girls that he cheated on me with! We were happy now, things were finally going well; he had just gone on one of the biggest missions of his CHERUB career and I was going through training for one of mine which had turned out to be a bit more than a routine check classified as medium risk.

Christmas was fast approaching and we had been happy until… Until James collapsed. My world had come crashing down around me when Zara told me what happened that day. I was brought away from my thoughts when Lauren poked her head around the door.

**Great, **I rolled my eyes and sighed "Yes Lauren?" my voice was croaky which meant that I had been crying. Hmmmmmmmm, stupid James. "Kerry are you alright? I heard you coming from the hallway. At first I didn't think it was you. I mean, for a child spy/ kid genius you didn't exactly choose a very good hiding spot"

Lauren paused and surveyed our surroundings before continuing "I mean seriously; the Janitor's closet? **Sooo** obvious. Seriously myself, I would of chos-"  
"Lauren? Your babbling"  
"Oh right. Sorry?"

"It's okay. Look I hate to sound mean, but what do you want?"  
Lauren looked confronted before smiling, "There we go; NORMAL KERRY again YAY!"

"Uh Lauren?" *cough* "the question?"  
Lauren turned on the light and I blinked my eyes at the sudden brightness. She cleared her throat before saying "Look Kerry, you know I love you right?"

I nodded my head "Yes"

"But I have to know: **WHAT THE HELL WAS **_**THAT**_** ABOUT? **No crying, no sense of any grief or loss. No mourning whatsoever, you just _walk _out. James is really confused, he thinks that **HE **has done something wrong *Lauren wiped away the tears forming in her eyes and let out a bitter laugh* Jesus Kerry, seriously _what is wrong with you? _Why the need to hurt James, when he is already hurting so badly?" And with that she stamped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

I realized that I had been sobbing, near hysteria. I hung my head ashamedly, thinking about what she had said. Slowly, the answer formed in my head, and truthfully- I felt sick with myself. I realized that I was tired of having to look after James and tired of him needing me. I knew what I had to do and boy was I regretting it already. But I knew that it was the only way that any type of relationship could survive between myself and James. I stood up and started walking out of the room but, just as I reached the door handle, I saw it move. Someone was coming in. instinct made me forget everything and I tensed for battle. I breathed out a sigh of relief as a familiar head poked itself around the door. I managed one word "Bruce" before I started laughing, hysterically may I add.  
"Kerry?"  
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA" My laughter turned to sobs as my chest started lurching, and I realized _with horror _that, yet again, I was crying. The second time in five minutes, what was wrong with me?

Bruce gingerly stepped forward, gliding gracefully and easily around the many objects that lay strewn across the floor. He grunted as he stepped into a bucket that I assumed contained water from the "Splash" I heard when his foot connected with the bottom and, of course, the look on his face. Finally he sat down next to me, and…and… _put his arm around me?_

Shaking his head Bruce muttered "Kerry, Kerry, Kerry"  
"**Yes **Bruce?"  
I was surprised to find that my voice had returned to its normal state and that it even held some malice in it for him. You see, Bruce and I didn't really 'get along', you couldn't really find the time to learn to like someone when you had been spending your whole life fighting against them. Whether it be Judo, Karate (or any other martial arts for that matter), maths or English, French or Cantonese you would always find me and Bruce fighting, head to head.

So you could say that his friendly gesture was exactly the opposite of what I had been expecting. Of course, after James and I had gotten together, Bruce had had to quit quite a lot of the hating. But I still hadn't gotten over Bruce hurting my knee and had found myself still hating him with a passion. James had often joked about how, if we weren't so competitive/argumentative, we would make a great couple. It took me until now to look up and really see Bruce, the dark hair flipped carelessly across one side, the long dark eye lashes that girl would kill for and that boys couldn't care less about, and as with any other CHERUB agent, Bruce was _fit. _

I was brought back to the present by Bruce, who had cleared his throat and was looking at me questioningly, searching my face for an answer. **Shit**, he must have asked me a question. "Oh sorry Bruce, I was just uhmmmm… thinking, yeah thinking. Did you say something?"  
"Yeah, I did. I was just wondering why you decided to take off like that? James thinks you've gone to eat but he might start to get suspicious if you don't come back soon. You've already been gone an hour and a half, and even you who could eat a whole buffet table don't usually take _that _long."  
I smacked his shoulder before replying "Oh uh, right. I'll go and see him now"  
You might want to go and clean up first your uhh, well your eyes are puffy and red."  
"Oh yes, of course"  
I started walking out of the room but when I got to the door, I whipped around and said "Oh and Bruce?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Thanks"  
"Uhm your welcome?"  
With that, I walked down the hall leaving a bewildered Bruce Norris behind.

Splashing my face with water, I thought about what I had to do. Turning to look at myself in the mirror, my mind couldn't comprehend what I was about to do. Flicking the paper towel I had used to wipe my face into the bin, I took one last look at myself before heading for James' room. I stood outside the window and braced myself for what was about to come.

**Zara's POV:**  
I must admit that throwing a 'tantrum' like that was the best thing I had done since James was admitted. It let me release all my stress, anger and nerves and, admittedly, I felt a whole lot better. Too bad that my world was now lying scattered around me on the floor, like a broken mirror that you would piece together only to discover one last, crucial bit missing. As I watched James from the hallway, I noticed that he was asleep again and that Lauren was in there talking to him. Man, was I relieved that she was okay. Well obviously not _okay, _but- oh you know what I mean. I saw Lauren's hands flutter over James, pulling up a blanket here, loosening or tightening something there. A song that I had heard on the radio played in my head:

_My best friend gave me the best advice  
__**He said each day's a gift and not a given right  
**__Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind  
And try to take the path less traveled by  
That first step you take is the longest stride_

If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late  
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?  
Would you live each moment like your last  
Leave old pictures in the past?  
Donate every dime you had, if today was your last day?  
What if, what if, if today was your last day?

Against the grain should be a way of life  
_**What's worth the prize is always worth the fight  
**__Every second counts 'cause there's no second try  
So live like you're never living twice  
Don't take the free ride in your own life_

If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late  
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?  
Would you live each moment like your last?  
Leave old pictures in the past?  
Donate every dime you had?

And would you call those friends you never see?  
Reminisce old memories?  
Would you forgive your enemies?  
And would you find that one you're dreaming of?  
Swear up and down to God above  
That you'd finally fall in love if today was your last day?

If today was your last day  
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?  
You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars  
Regardless of who you are

So do whatever it takes  
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life  
Let nothing stand in your way  
'Cause the hands of time are never on your side

If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late  
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?  
Would you live each moment like your last?  
Leave old pictures in the past?  
Donate every dime you had?

And would you call those friends you never see?  
Reminisce old memories?  
Would you forgive your enemies?  
And would you find that one you're dreaming of  
Swear up and down to God above  
That you'd finally fall in love if today was your last day?

Jeez, how ironic was it that Nickelback; a band that James **absolutely** hated described his situation so well. Because James' life was definitely worth the fight. My cell vibrated indicating that I had a message. Of course; _Ewart. _"Z, Joshua really wants to see James. Is refusing to eat until he does. Maybe we should let him? Get some rest, love you; Ewart x"

I smiled at my eldest son's antics as I texted back, sighing I sent off the message that read: "Sure, bring him around at ten." and made my way into James' room. Lauren looked up wearily, and tried to smile at me. It came out as more of a grimace. "Hey Lauren, I have to go back to campus and take care of some stuff. I'll be back soon, oh and could you let James know when he wakes up that Ewart is bringing Josh around at ten to visit?"

For a moment I saw a sparkle in Laurens eyes "Joshi? Sure maybe he'll make James finally crack a smile."  
I sighed, poor kid was taking it hard. "Haha, yeah maybe. Oh, by the way, have you seen Kerry? I was going to give her a ride back and Bruce is staying here cause he has nothing else to do at campus."

At the mention of Kerry Lauren's already pitiful smile turned into a frown and she mumbled something about the 'prissy princess – good for nothing "friend" being in the janitors closet" and, taking that as my cue to leave, I walked to the Janitor's closet only to open the door an find myself surveying a scene I wished I hadn't.

Shutting the door, I waited uncomfortably outside until Kerry joined me.


	7. Janitor's closet

**(A/N: Hey guys, thankyou soo much for the reviews btw the song is 'If today was your last day' by Nickelback (: God, I love making Kerry look like a bitch :D So here's some more; keep up the love ******** Please not that for the purpose of this story James is fourteen and Lauren is thirteen **_**and **_**Cherub agents finish when they are twenty, shanks ********)**

**Kerry's POV:**

Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, SHIT! Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this was very _very _bad. I adjusted my blouse, stepped away from Bruce who was looking flustered and stepped out, not making eye contact with Zara as I began to trail behind her.

Pretending that I found the floor really interesting was hard; oh look – a crumb! Yay! (note the heavy sarcasm) Zara stopped and I skidded to a halt trying not to hit her. I looked up to see why Zara had stopped and regretted it immediately. We had stopped just outside James' room and I saw, to my horror, James being wheeled out – pale white and motionless. This was the last thing I saw before my vision faded, my legs gave way and I fell into the dark abyss that was unconsciousness.……………

It was some time later (I say sometime because I actually don't know how long I had been unconscious) that I awoke, not consciously but, I felt like I had woken up – I could hear my thoughts at least – so I guess, technically, I was still unconscious. I could only thing one thing and that was: James is dead, you killed him - you couldn't be bothered helping him so God took him away from you, you silly **selfish, selfish **girl.

I heard a sound and strained my ears to hear it again – ahhh, I knew what that sound was, after ten years of knowing him, I knew the sound of Bruce Norris squirming in his seat. I tried hard to open my eyes and – success! "Bruce?"

Bruce looked up through his hands, smiled wearily and sighed "Hey Kerry" I looked around at my surroundings- "Uh, Bruce? Why, exactly, am I in a hospital bed?"

"You sort of fainted, you were dehydrated and apparently in shock; the Doc though you'd been running laps until he saw me walk up, pink and the looks Zara kept shotting me" Bruce smirked. I knew I was blushing furiously, because I felt my cheeks grew hot. Then I remembered something "Br-Bruce, James is he? He's surely not not d-d-dead?" Bruce sighed "Kerry- " Just then Lauren burst in looking absolutely furious, she pointed at Bruce "You! Outside _**NOW!" **_Bruce quickly walked outside and Lauren turned to me, visibly shaking with rage and uttered 4 words before leaving "How could you Kerry?"

I knew those words were going to haunt me forever more. My shoulders shuddered; ugh, I was getting sick of this crying thing, as I thought back to what – I then realized – had been a little over three hours ago. I had just made a decision and was ready to fulfill it when Bruce had gone all 'sensitively handsome' on me and we had ended up hooking up in the Janitor's closet. I was horrorstruck by a thought that had just occurred to me, my stomach plummeted as I remembered that I _hadn't gone through with my decision _to break up with James. I felt like a scumbag. Kissing his best friend while he was in a hospital bed, possibly – **OHMYGOD, **_**DEAD!**_

I started screaming hysterically "LAUREN, KYLE, BRUCE, ZARA, MERYL? SOMEBODY!" All five ran into the room looking concerned, but as soon as Kyle saw the look on my face he told the others he knew what was wrong and that he would handle it. Bruce didn't look convinced but was silenced by one of Lauren's death stares and an angry muttering of something that sounded like "Haven't _you _done enough?"

"Kerry, chillax, he's not dead he –"

I was irritable and so when I interrupted I sounded quite rude, "Then what where they doing with him?" Kyle looked like he was considering the consequences of telling me a lie vs those of telling me the truth. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, I beat him to it "And I _warn _ you Kyle Blueman – you tell me even a little bit of untruthfulness and when I get out of this hospital bed your life will not be worth living" Kyle looked at me looking a bit pink, "Kerry – Kerry – Kerry; when have I ever to you?" I coughed "Okay; but when have I ever lied to you about something so serious?" I coughed again "Okay, Okay I get it – I promise I'm not lying"

"Alright, proceed"

Kyle raised an eyebrow before continuing "He just went into surgery Kerry," seeing the look on my face he blurted the rest out quickly "They had to move it forward, 'cause the Doc took a scan and said it wasn't looking too good." I stared dumbstruck at the wall as relief swam over me. An awkward silence followed, until Kyle chuckled "So you and Bruce, eh? Can't say I'm surprised; although why it took you this long I'm not sure" My reply came out jumbled "Bruce? Me? What? Together? You? Huh? Say, what? HUH?" And Kyle looked sheepish before replying "Sorry, I was out in the hallway before your little outburst and let's just say Lauren wasn't exactly jumping with joy to hear that you and Bruce had been caught in the Janitor's closet."

**Lauren's POV:**

I was going to kill him and _her. _ Let's just say these two were certainly not going to be on my Christmas Card list for a long – long time. I was distracted by my cell beeping indicating I had a message.

Sender: Bethany.

Time: 11:48, Thursday.

_Hey Lauren, Erin's back from her mission in Ireland. She wants to catch up, seems concerned about James. Still has that crush I guess? Wb x_

Erin? Oh, Erin. I texted Bethany back _Why don't you to come meet me in my room at 5, bring chocolate and 'The Notebook' we'll have a sleepover. Tell her James is in surgery, going well so far x_

Erin was a navy shirt like Bethany and was the other third of our triplet group. She had developed a crush on James as soon as she had laid eyes on him, her little sister being in James maths' tutoring group that he taught didn't really help with the whole sibling rivalry thing going on. Her birthday was a day after mine and we often celebrated together. Her parents had been killed in an airoplane crash on their way to Phu Ket for her dad's job and her mum had been pregnant as well, so not only had she lost her parents but another sibling as well. She and her sister had been staying with friends at the time. She was 8, her sister 2; she'd arrived at CHERUB eight months after. As her dad had been Irish she had pale skin, chocolate brown hair, emerald green eyes but, because her mum was Australian her sister had been born with tanned skin, brown eyes but the same chocolate brown hair as herself. It was probably the only similar thing about them. Her sister's name was Emer, she was 7; turning eight as she liked to inform anyone who would listen, and was one of the cutest red shirts on campus. She was always getting into trouble and Erin often got annoyed with her. I decided to ask Zara if she could drive me back to campus, she said yes and so I found myself running around my room picking up clothes that had been discarded everywhere in between visits to hospital. It was 4:58 and I heard a knock on my door, it was Erin "Sorry I'm early but Emer was driving me crazy, needs help with her maths homework but as I keep telling her you and James are the maths whizzes not me" She grinned as I let her in "No problem, if you ever need a hand with her, you can just call me" "Yeah, 'cause she doesn't idolize you and your brother enough as it is" "Oh so _she's _the one that idolizes James is she?" Erin turned pink before mumbling something about 'Me and Emer being equally annoying' I laughed before heading to open the door, for who I assumed was Bethany. It certainly _was not _Bethany. I slammed the door shut and jumped behind the couch.

**Erin's POV:**

I walked over to the door to let poor Bethany in, "Okay Lauren, what the hell-o Bruce?" I was surprised to find Bruce there, but man was I glad to see him, anything to change the subject from where it had been heading. "Oh, uh Erin isn't it?" I nodded, "I was wondering if I could talk to Lauren for a second" I felt confused, since when did Bruce want to see Lauren? And what had he done to make her so angry? "ERIN, DUCK!" I heard Lauren scream as I saw a pillow sail through the air past me, I stood upright and said to Bruce "Does that answer your question?" and shut the door in his face, poor Bruce, Lauren must be angry.

I turned around, "So what was that about then?" I struggled to hold back my laughter as I saw Lauren's eyes peer cautiously over the lounge. She looked uncomfortable before muttering "Oh, uh nothing?" "Yeah, sure" My phone vibrated in my pocket,

Sender: Bethany

Time: 5:05 pm Thursday.

_Hey chica, sorry I can't come tonight. Jake just got me grounded; so I guess I'll see you later. Congrats btw x_

Lauren looked at me suspiciously after reading the text from over my shoulder, "What does she mean by 'Congrats'?" I coughed, "Why don't you take a look at my shirt?" Lauren looked me up and down "Uh, I don't see anything different other than the fact it's black –_**OMG, IT'S BLACK!" **_She started jumping up and down and chanting "Erin got her black shirt, Erin got her black shirt."

I laughed "Shh, okay, okay took you long enough. Now, why don't we take a seat and catch up." Lauren still looked like she was about to scream, so I brought out the Belgium chocolate that I had been hiding in my bag, "Look at what I got on my stopover in Belgium?" Lauren squealed, and we both sat down on her bed.

* * *

**(A/N: Okay guys, i don't really want to write a whole chapter of girl talk so i'm going to write up a convo with the essential things for the story in it. Review to tell me what you think of Erin, she may be a key part of the story soon (: )**


	8. Lauren's Story

**(A/N: Hey guys, so sorry i took so long; i've had alot going on. Anyway i would like to dedicate this chapter to: ilovejames2009 for all the encouraging reviews (:  
I've written like 20 more pages and am happy with where this story is going. If your going to review, please tell me what you think of Erin :)  
Disclaimer: Do i really need to say? )  
**

**Lauren's POV:  
**"Okay so you see, I've liked him for while now but I never, ever thought that my feelings would be reciprocated." Seeing the look on Erin's face I laughed, then continued "Yeah, Yeah I know big words. So anyway, one day in the hospital while James was unconscious he told me how he felt and how he though he knew that I would never like him back, of course I did, and told him so and so we started 'secretly' dating. Meeting up in the cafeteria, the Janitor's closet and even James hospital room, and we just talked and…well you-know. It was going great, I was happy, well as happy as you can be when you've just been told that your brother has a brain tumor. I_ thought_ he was happy as well, emphasis on the word thought. There came a day when we'd been spending some time together but apparently James wanted to talk to us, I could only assume that this was to inform Kerry and Kyle of what was happening. So, I dragged Bruce along and told him to 'play nice' with Kerry let's just say he was definitely 'comforting'. Anyway, Kerry took the news badly and stormed off, boy was I pissed at her. I went and told her off and then came back to sit next to James. Bruce told me that he would go and try and talk to her. Foolishly I thought what a great boyfriend he was, being nice to his best mate's girlfriend and one of his girlfriend's bestest friends. So, it's been about two hours and he still hasn't come back but I wasn't worried because spending too much time together would have looked suspicious. Then Zara comes in looking for Kerry, I told her that the last time I had seen her, she had been in the janitor's closet. Well, I may have said it in a different way but whatever, so I go to get a drink after Zara left to go and get Kerry. I hear two interns talking, something about two young ones being found in a closet – again, I thought nothing of it. I walk back to James' room, only to be told by the doctor that they were taking James to surgery.

So as I watched my brother being wheeled away, Kerry and Zara rock up; Zara looking pink-cheeked and Kerry with her hair all messy and her blouse out of place. When Bruce walked up behind her looking flushed and out-of-it it clicked, but I didn't have time to react to my observations before Kerry's on the floor" I scoffed at this "she'd fainted. So we put her on a bed and Bruce said he would keep her company until she regained consciousness. HAH! If only he knew that I had figured it out, he must have felt something was off because he wasn't making eye contact with me, just making a beeline for the door.

I waited outside until I saw that she was awake and then went in, screamed at Bruce to get outside and wait there for me. I turned to Kerry and truly saw her, evil conniving bitch that she was, just asked her why she did it and then flounced off. I get outside to find Kyle sitting next to Bruce, I called Bruce over and gave it to him. Boy did I, told him how I knew what had happened, and when he looked at me not even looking guilty, I knew that what we had had, well it had been destroyed by him. I said a lot more stuff that I don't care to repeat but I think he got the message.

So yeah, since then I've been avoiding him and Kerry. I don't care what they have to say. He broke my heart and she *my voice shook* _she _was supposed to be one of my best friends. Hadn't I fought with James over her a million times? Gotten angry for her sake with him? How, how could she have done this to me?"

Erin just blinked, looking at me shocked, then she coughed and we sat there for about five minutes just looking at each other. "So enough about me, let's talk about you. Look at you, Black shirt, grown taller and _OMG! You've got boobs!_; If **that **doesn't get James attention I don't know what will." Erin went pink, "You've certainly grown and evened out (don't I just sound like such a grandma here?) what have they been feeding you cans of 'beautiful'?"

She laughed, "No Lauren, I just ate and ate and ate. It's basically all they do there, and let loose; well as loose as you can get on a mission. Thank God this one didn't last too long, Emer still remembers me this time." She smirked and grabbed some more chocolate, "And thanks for the comments about my body, I really need to start training again."

"No you don't, you look _healthy._"

"Thanks Lauren, you sure know how to make a girl feel better"

"Aren't I just the Dalai Llama spreading peace and good comments?" We both cracked up laughing at this. "Okay enough of this, let's talk boys, not Bruce, but nice, fit boys" I said. A look of what looked like horror crossed her face before she smiled, "Uh sure"

"Hey, are you okay? I mean really okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine" she smiled, but not the one that reaches her eyes. This was a fake, plastic smile. "Right why don't we start with my brother, how do _you _feel about _him?" _Erin blushed, "Okay maybe not boys. Oh wait – yes let's talk boys; I met this really cute one while I was away."

"Cute Irish boy aye? What was his name?"

"Kevin, he had brown hair and blue eyes and was _fit _although, not CHERUB fit."  
"Oh," I winked at her and, again, we both burst out laughing.

**Erin's POV:  
**We put on 'The Notebook' and chattered all throughout about boys, girls, boy's with girls and all the Campus gossip I had missed. I felt like telling Lauren what I had been keeping in, but I couldn't. Not now, not ever; no-one would ever _know _what had happened on that mission, certainly not Lauren. As the credits began to roll I started to feel the jetlag so I let my eyelids take over and fell into a weary, restless sleep.

**Lauren's POV: **

After Erin fell asleep I lay there thinking for a while before I, too, fell asleep. It was a little while later that I woke up to the sound of sobbing, I realized it had to be Erin. Crawling over so that I was sitting right next to her, I flicked on the overhead lamp. "Erin? Jesus, Erin? Are you okay? Please, speak to me; what's wrong?"

"Oh Lauren, look don't worry I'm just being silly, it's just. He-he, and i-i-I could of fought him, but –but he, he drugged me and then it was all over. I-i-I must have deserved it, b-b-because why else would he have done it? To m-m-me? I'm being silly, I shouldn't have woken you I'm I'm sorry, look go back to sleep; I'll be fine."

**(A/N: Cliffy much? I know, but i'll update soon. Well, sooner than last time anyway. Maybe even tomorrow? Okay, Reviews? )**


	9. Zara gets called to campus

**(A/N: Okay, i know, im an idiot and i deserve to die. A whole freakin' month! Well close to, anyway i hope to make it up to you, 2 chapters up today that _will _(hopefully) be worth reviews.)**

_After Erin fell asleep I lay there thinking for a while before I, too, fell asleep. It was a little while later that I woke up to the sound of sobbing, I realized it had to be Erin. Crawling over so that I was sitting right next to her, I flicked on the overhead lamp. "Erin? Jesus, Erin? Are you okay? Please, speak to me; what's wrong?"_

_"Oh Lauren, look don't worry I'm just being silly, it's just. He-he, and i-i-I could of fought him, but –but he, he drugged me and then it was all over. I-i-I must have deserved it, b-b-because why else would he have done it? To m-m-me? I'm being silly, I shouldn't have woken you I'm I'm sorry, look go back to sleep; I'll be fine."_

_

* * *

  
_

She was worrying me, all this talk of 'deserving it' and it 'being all her fault' Made me think something had gone terribly wrong on her mission. "No, Erin, No. Look at me – tell me what happened. Please? Your worrying me." Her body was racked by a wave of fresh sobs and she started muttering, I leaned closer to try and hear. "Lauren, Lauren – I-I-I was raped." I stared at my friend, horrorstricken.

"Erin, you need to tell someone, anyone; am I the first one you've told?" She nodded her head. "Oh Jesus, Erin, look – I'm calling Zara, She needs to know." She gave no reply so I took that as a yes. I glanced at the clock '4:30 AM' flashed at me, and there was _no way_ she would still be at the office so I would have to call her on the cell phone number she'd given me at the hospital 'This is only for **emergencies**' she said, and if _this_ wasn't an emergency then I didn't know what was. She picked up on the fourth ring, her voice sounded annoyed but I knew I'd done the right thing by calling her, "Hello? Who is this?"

"Zara? It's Lauren. I think you need to get to campus as soon as possible, there's a…abit of a problem that can't be explained over the phone." There was a slight pause before I heard Zara mutter "Christ" and then she told me that she'd be here as soon as possible and to wait for her call.

She wasn't in any fit state to walk in so I used one of the staff golf-carts to move her to the main building. Apparently Zara had phoned ahead to make sure someone could let us in, because we were greeted at the front door by one of the junior block carers. We got into the elevators and went up to the right floor, only having to wait ten minutes before I heard the elevator ding which indicated that Zara had arrive. She appeared wearing her pyjamas and a cardigan; seeing me she gave me a questioning glance but then she saw Erin and immediately ushered us into her office.

* * *

**(A/N: Alright done! No jokes, i wouldn't do that to you guys. Scroll down )**

She sat on the lounge across from us and, seeing that Erin was still sobbing hysterically (yet quietly), turned to me. "Uh Lauren, would you like a cup of tea or something? Anything? No? Okay, why don't you go start the fire." Nodding i walked over to the fireplace and, hands shaking, lit a match. When i turned around i saw that Erin had stopped crying but Zara was no longer on the lounge, instead she was now sitting behind her desk. My curiosity piked i walked over to her, "Take a seat. I know this is abit weird but i thought we should let her rest and maybe you could tell me what's wrong?"

Her tone was so motherly, i knew that i myself was on the verge of tears. "Well, well you see... the thing is... I don't actually know the full story, but i thought you should know what Erin told me before i called you. Zara, you see... god, this is hard, she's... well, she was raped." The look of horror on Zara's face was enough to shut me up. The last thing i can remember is Zara telling me to go and lie down while she talked to Erin, me trying to stop myself from falling asleep but failing _badly. _

**Zara's POV:**

Never, in all my years at CHERUB; both as pupil and carer, have i ever heard of something going so wrong on a mission (other than death). Watching Erin relate her story to me, well; it pretty much broke my heart. And yet, i could see the foundations of her strength that had made her a prime candidate for CHERUB. I was the one who had nominated her for recruitment, and later i had been her handler and watched her grow up. I could remember begging Mac; sure, she was young but she had potential, even at eight she was an intellectual braniac. Remembering how she used to come to me and tell me everything, no matter what the consequences, made me feel even sadder that she hadn't been able to come and tell me this.

After hearing her story i had felt physically sick, even the thought that she hadn't been conscious or aware gave me little comfort (not that it would have anyway). I could tell how vulnerable she was just by looking at her, she had only ever been this upset when she first arrived at the care home after her parents had died. Bringing her to England and to the campus had solved some of her issues but i had always known, deep down, that she would have preferred living in Australia. Being close to the memories of her parents, still wouldn't of kept her from this heartache. _Alright Zara, enough reminiscing, get a grip._

**(Okay, that's it _for now. _Is it childish of me to ask for reviews? Please and thankyou x )**

**Come on, press the green button, you know you want to...**


	10. The Elevator

**(A/N: Hey guys, i know its been a while. And im really sorry about that but i had a lot of writers block. But im back now, and i have a few more ideas to explore so keep reading and share your thoughts with me :)**

**Disclaimer: **If i owned the rights to the CHERUB books, don't you think there'd be a movie by now?**)**

The committee had called a meeting and Zara had to bring Erin into London to give a 'statement', per say. She wasn't looking forward to dragging the poor girl through more stress at the moment, so she was allowing her to bring Lauren along. After all, Lauren was the one she'd confessed too. That had to mean something, didn't it? And they'd stop by the hospital on the way back so that James knew that he hadn't been forgotten or abandoned. She just hoped it didn't take all day, that would be all she needed. But before they left, she'd have to go home and get changed, she couldn't very well turn up in London in her pyjamas and uggboots. That'd be a sight, as if she wasn't in enough trouble already.

So she'd called both of the girls' rooms and left messages on their phones, she'd be back on campus in an hour and they were to meet her in the mission prep building. She arrived home to find Ewart sitting on the bed, obviously he had been waiting for her to come home. "Zara. What's going on? Why the sudden phone call in the middle of the night? What happened?" She sighed, and sank down onto the bed.  
"Ewart, you remember Erin Reilly? Her little sister is a red shirt."  
His face looked blank, "She's the one who had to get the surgery on her back, a few years ago? You know, Kyle Blueman's-"  
"Oh Her. Yeah, sort of. Why? Did something happen to her?"  
"More like someone. She was raped on her last mission by the son of the guy she was trying to bust. She admitted all this to Lauren last night and now I have to drive her into London for a committee meeting." Ewart just stared at her, stunned.

"She was… I mean, WHAT? How could this have happened? Who was the mission controller?"  
"That's the thing, there wasn't one. She was working with two agents from ISIS. She was already a black shirt and I was confident of her success, besides the mission was classified low risk. There was another agent on the mission with her, a Navy Shirt by the name of Dale Williams. He's sixteen, and they had quite a tight bond. I thought it would all be okay, but when is it ever? I mean do these missions ever end happily? I'm starting to really question my ability to handle this job."  
"Hey now, Z. No need to do that, look. No. _Listen _to me Zara. None of this is your fault. You did what has been done a thousand times before, what will continue to be done for years to come. You put your confidence in an agent, who deserved your trust. The board classified that mission as low risk, there was no reason for that mission to go wrong. How were you to know that this guy's son was a sick, twisted bastard? You couldn't have. You had no reason to not let her go on this mission. There was no cause for concern, and the committee will see that. They will see that you did what anyone would have done in your situation."

"And what's that Ewart? What did I do? Other than send off some poor, innocent, little girl right into the hands of a rapist?"  
"No. Zara. No. Are you not listening to anything I'm saying? You did your job. And now you will get ready, go pick up that poor girl and get through today because you know yourself that this can never be 'fixed' but, in time, the pain will soften and hopefully dull until she can go through life normally. You will keep your job and continue to second guess your every move but Z, remember, you are great at your job and everyone makes mistakes. And if you do, I will always be here to back you up, okay?"  
"I have to get ready now Ewart. But thanks, for trying to make me feel better. It helped a bit I guess. I'll think about what you said and we'll see what happens today." She shrugged off his hand, the one he'd placed on her shoulder to try and offer some comfort.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on campus Erin and Lauren found themselves getting into an elevator to head down to the cafeteria. Lauren had taken control last night after they'd, well she'd told, Zara. She'd taken Erin back to her room and put her to bed. That morning, she'd gotten her up and, after listening to Zara's voicemail, she'd set out some nice clothes for her to wear for the meeting. Then she'd left to get herself ready with the instructions for Erin to get in the shower and wash herself and her hair. Thank God for Lauren, because let's face it, Erin had been a bit like a caterpillar in a cocoon. You know, the light's are on but no one's home? She'd been on auto pilot for a while now, and it felt good to have someone look after her. So Lauren had been back by the time she was dressed and here they found themselves waiting for the elevator. And who else had to be in the elevator but Bruce. Yes that's right, lying, cheating, unfortunate, unsuspecting Bruce. Sighting Lauren, his face lit up like all his Christmases had come at once. Erin found herself pretty awake after that shower so she remembered enough to feel like an intruder, and she also remembered enough to shoot Bruce a dirty look.

Lauren followed that with a quick look of disgust at him, before returning her attention back to Erin. Dressed in a caramel blouse, black pencil skirt and wearing ballet shoes Lauren felt sure of her friend making a good impression at the meeting today. She also felt strangely proud of her. How she could have been through what she had and come out fighting was truly Erin's style. And, although she was looking a little bit worse for wear, she was sure no one would pick up on anything in the cafeteria. That would be all they needed, to be campus' latest piece of gossip. "Lauren. We need to talk."  
"No Bruce. We don't."  
"Just let me explain and then give me a chance. I promise it won't ever happen again."  
"Bruce, you're being silly. And why should I give you another chance? You've already broken my heart once, why would I let you have another go at it? Maybe you think you left one piece not shattered enough." Bruce must have been desperate because he leaped forward and pressed the stop button and the elevator shuddered to a halt. "Look Lauren just listen okay? I made a mistake, a huge one and I've been regretting it ever since. Would you please just hear me out?"

Obviously something Bruce had done had triggered something in Erin's memory, because she started feeling claustrophobic and was finding it hard to breathe. Lauren, unaware as yet of her friends panic, laughed. "Why should I hear you out Bruce? So that _you _can have closure? Or whatever you want to call it. You know why I don't want to listen to what you have to say? Because _I DON'T CARE." _Erin spoke up, although her voice was feeble, "Lauren? I'm feeling sort of claustrophobic." Lauren turned around, and started to speak in a soothing voice "Shhh Honey it's okay. Everything will be fine, just take deep breaths. This will be over before you know it." Turning back around, her voice was still lowered but had lost the soft, soothing edge "Do you see what you are doing Bruce? Now stop this nonsense and _let us out." _Bruce's eyes flickered between Erin, who was starting to hyperventilate and Lauren, who looked like she would be ready to shove him down the elevator shaft if given the opportunity.

"No."  
"Oh Lord-give-me-strength. Bruce _please? _Look, I've had a _really _long, tough night and I need to eat. So either you move, or I'll make you move."  
"Lauren! I can't br-eathe." And Erin was serious, she couldn't. Her lungs were struggling to get oxygen into her body and she felt herself get dizzy. Lauren glared at Bruce, "It's okay Erin, he's going to let us out now. If he ever wants me to acknowledge him _ever _again, he will move. NOW." Bruce's face showed his defeat, as he re-pressed the stop button and the lift doors opened up to show that they had been suspended just above the ground floor. He stormed off as Erin ran out of the elevator, attracting a few stares. But hey, at least she could breathe now, eh?

**(A/N: Hello again. Yes, i know it's quite short but i promise there will be another update sooner than the last. Reviews please, but no flames. Because nobody likes an arsonist do they? )**


	11. Good news

(A/N: Thanks to all reviewers (:  
Sorry it took so long, but here we are. To everyone who asked, yes i am australian. And, the way i wrote it was supposed to be a description of her appearance. All clear? Thanks again guys, you all rule :)

Disclaimer: Who am i kidding? Only in my wildest dreams would i ever own cherub.

**Erin's POV:**

"Idiot." I heard Lauren mumble under her breath, before coming over and standing next to me. "I'm so sorry you had to get caught up in that, you okay now?"  
"I'm fine, are you? He seems desperate, like I _knew _he was crazy but jeez."

Lauren laughed, "You don't have to tell me that, anyway forget Bruce. Let's go get some breakfast, I'm starving." Eating some food must have sobered me up because I felt better already, hopefully an omen of what was to come today.

"Wow Zara. You look smart. What's the occasion?"

"Very funny Mr. Blueman, don't you have _somewhere _to be?"

"Uh yes. Well sort of. I was wondering if you've seen Erin? I needed to talk to her about something."

Zara's face dropped, of course he was. And he had to be looking for her on this very day didn't he?

"Kyle, I have seen her and I _do _know where she is but, see, the thing is. She's the reason why I'm so dressed up, I have to take her to London for a committee meeting. We'll probably be gone all day. You'd be better off going and visiting James, we might even see you there."

It was Kyle's turn for his face to drop, "What happened? Is she okay? She's not hurt is she?"

"Well I can't tell you what happened, she's only been hurt in some way and as for the middle question you'd probably have to ask her. I'm sorry Kyle, I know I'm being elusive but, I really couldn't say without having to tell you the whole story." Kyle just stared at her, looking _very _confused.

"So, why don't you?"

"It's not mine to tell. Now, I'm sorry but I must be off. London calls."

Zara Asker left a _very _confused Kyle Blueman behind her on campus that day. The car ride to London was extremely quiet, at least until Zara turned the radio on.

* * *

Dr. Ben Campion was a perfectly capable doctor, _thankyou very much. _He had been through hundreds if not thousands of surgeries, was the top intern at his starting hospital, and was now chief of surgery at the military hospital located about 10 miles out from CHERUB campus. But it was cases like young James Adams' that made him question his capabilities. To have a teenage male present himself with no symptoms of a brain tumour was not an extraordinary thing, but it was when said teenage male _did _have a brain tumour. For that teenager to have to have had a fit in order for him to be brought to hospital was not only confusing, it was also slightly worrying. It meant that most of what was textbook about this case, no longer applied. James Adams was a medical mystery. And, to make matters more confusing, the boy was in peak condition; he was an intelligence agent after all.

So, staring at the x-ray in front of him, Dr. Campion found it hard not to be shocked. After all, hadn't this boy done nothing but defy the odds? To not only have survived the epileptic fit, then surgery to remove the tumour, this boy's x-ray was now telling Dr. Campion that, as far as James' brain was concerned, he was fighting fit. Like he said, this boy was one big headache.

Walking down the corridor towards James' room, Dr. Campion knew that if he'd been dealing with an ordinary boy, in an ordinary hospital filled with ordinary people then this case could have made his career. But seeing as he wasn't, he felt okay with knowing that this boy would go on to lead a happy, as normal as it gets when your working for British intelligence, everyday life. And even though nobody would be allowed to know, he could still feel a sense of self achievement, even if he was completely puzzled by the whole thing.

Turning into the boys room he was pleasantly surprised to see that, for probably the first time since the boy's admittance to the hospital, he was alone. James looked up at the entrance and spoke "Hey, Dr Campion. Got some good news i hope?"

"As a matter of fact James, i do. Some very good news,"

James smiled, relieved. "Great doc, i don't think i could handle any more bad news. Care to share?"

Dr. Campion walked up to the x-ray light, and clipped the x-ray into place. He pointed to the area of the brain where, up until a few days ago, the tumour had been. "Well James, you see this part? Thats where the tumour was, but after we removed it we weren't hoping to see anything better than minimal swelling, and anything worse than delayed development for a week or so. As you can see, there is no swelling and, obviously, you yourself can see that you have perfectly normal post-op development."

James nodded, showing that he wanted the doctor to continue.

"That's it James. I must warn you, there is a slight chance of the tumour returning. And, i'm sorry to say, if it did it would almost certainly be cancerous. But the chances of that happening are quite unlikely so, in the meantime you can live your life to the fullest. The only thing is you'll have to come in for testing every six months or so for two years, then once a year for the next five years. Other than that, i can safely say that you'll be out of here by friday week at latest. And, as bad as it may sound, i hope i never have to see you again."

James beamed, "The sentiment is returned Doc, don't you worry about that. But you're not pulling my leg are you? You're absolutely certain that its gone?" Dr. Campion nodded and James breathed out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank god. Seriously Doc, thanks. You have no idea how relieved i am to hear that." And so, Dr. Campion walked out of James room with a smile spread across his face, humming the theme to M*A*S*H*, his favourite television series.

(A/N: I have no clue about what to do for the committee meeting, so any ideas would be appreciated. Review please (: )


	12. Conference

**(A/N: Sorry for the slowness in updates guys. This chapter is not all as it seems, keep that in mind as you read it though ;]**

**Dedicated to: Cherub and Inheritance lover who's brilliant ideas will be used in the next few chapters.  
To waterflame, thats just me - i love Kerry though honestly. Yes James does get some romance in this, although it might be unexpected.**

**Disclaimer: Need i bother?) **

Chapter 12:

Questions were flying at her from all corners of the table, accompanied by accusing glares.

"How could this have happened?"

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"How could you have _let _this happen?"

Zara raised her hand, and the noise ceased. They had just finished telling the committee about what had happened on Erin's latest mission and there hadn't been a moment's silence before the words had started flying. She looked over at the girl in question who looked exhausted, both physically and emotionally. But then something unrecognizable flashed across her face – defiance. Her voice rang out clear, in the silenced conference room "Let me make myself very clear, Zara Asker is the only reason I stand before you today. She is possibly the only reason I can even function right now. It is not her fault that what happened to me did, she did not "let" it happen. You may not believe me, or my story but all I can say is it happened. I don't like that it happened, _obviously. _But it is not your place to question Zara on her judgement, after all – was it not all of you that reviewed this mission? Was it not you who classified it as minimum risk? So no, don't get on your high horse accusing Zara of letting this happen because when it comes down to it, it was that, that _animal _that did this to me. As much as I would love to be able to blame myself, to blame you, to blame anyone – I can't. And it happened, and there is absolutely nothing that could make it go away. Just think for a minute, if you, that is, if you were lucky enough to be the Chairperson of CHERUB would you have made a different decision? Sending agents on missions around the world is what we do, and we trust that those agents are going to do their jobs – just as well as they have done them before and will continue to do. I will not attempt to play down my 'attack' or to shrug it off, but I will also not find myself sitting there blaming someone who is completely innocent."

And she closed her mouth, and looked at Zara with innocent eyes. Zara who almost felt like hugging her with gratitude, and affection, merely cleared her throat and said "Yes well, thankyou. If you'd like to go outside and sit with Lauren, I need to have a talk with the rest of them."

Erin smirked, grabbed her stuff – nodded at everyone sitting at the table; who'd all been stunned into silence by her outburst and walked out of the conference room.

She found Lauren sitting slumped in a chair, her head against the wall with her eyes closed. She was quite obviously trying to catch up on the sleep she lost last night. Too bad _that _wasn't going to happen. But before Erin could sneak up on her, her eyes fluttered open of her own accord and she caught sight of her friend coming down the hall. She smiled briefly, "Hey. Are they nearly done?"

Erin grimaced, "Yeah, if by done you mean about to shout their heads off at each other."

The blonde smirked, before straightening up "Aah, the subtle arts of politics."

They both laughed, and Erin sighed as she sat down. "About all of, this" she waved her hands around, "whatever this is, thanks for being here. God knows you could have been at the hospital or anywhere else. It means a lot to me Lauren, thankyou."

Lauren stopped, a bit shocked "Wow. That was a weird apology, but none the less I accept. Anyway, I don't think I could deal with James for much longer without doing something really drastic. And, at the hospital there's also the chance of running into Kerry or Bruce – so helping you with your life is a lot easier than helping my dear brother with his, or my own."

"So you're saying helping me is completely for your own convenience? Gee thanks, its times like these that you make me feel _soo _loved."

Both of them laughed at that, and Zara gave them a quizzical look as she came walking down the corridor.

"My, my what do we have here? Not having fun I hope. You wouldn't want to do anything against the rules, in the region of those old hags in the conference room."

She winked at them and they followed her out of the building and into the carpark, from which they headed to the hospital. She had, after all, promised James a visit – she'd just have a few tag-a-longs, not that he would

mind.

James sat up in his hospital bed, waiting for his visitor to arrive. He hadn't seen her in a few days now and, as much as he would hate to admit it, he was looking forward to seeing her face again. The door opened and in she walked.

His face broke out into a huge smile "Kerry, you're here."

She looked a bit uncomfortable, "Yeah, I am."

He gestured to the chair next to his bed, "Please take a seat. How are you?"

She shook her head, declining the offer "I only plan on being here a little while James, I just needed to talk to you about something."

"I was planning on telling you something important too, something im really happy about actually."

"Yeah, whatever. Great."

This was when James knew _something _was wrong, Kerry was never this – uptight. His smile faltered, "Is there something wrong?"

Kerry spoke really hurriedly, looking at her feet. "Yeah, yeah there is. And I don't want to prolong this for longer than I have to so I'm just going to come out and say it. James, I want to break up with you. I don't like the pattern that's occurring in this relationship and so for both of our benefits, I think it should end."

And she fled the room, leaving James speechless, confused and really quite bewildered.

**(A/N: Remember, not all as it seems. Reviews are appreciated :)**


	13. Envelopes

**(A/N: Sorry for the wait guys. Enjoy x )**

Lauren looked as Zara, shocked. "Envelopes? We're going to buy envelopes? How does a multi-million dollar hi-tech, secret intelligence office run out of _envelopes_?"

Zara laughed, "Lauren, I honestly have no idea. Now, the day you answer that, I will personally pay for the plaque dedicating CHERUB campus to you."

As they stepped into the office supplies building, all three girls felt the heat _woosh _into their faces and warm them up. It was definitely a cold, miserable, December day – a very typical "english" day at that.

Glancing worriedly back at her silent friend, Lauren left Zara to wander the aisles in search of the envelopes.

"Hey," She said, just as Erin caught up to her "how are you feeling?"

Erin gave a small smile, and spoke softly "Im fine, happy to get it off my chest actually. Who'd have thought they would've had the gall to blame it on Zara? I swear, sometimes I wonder about who they let run this country."

Lauren gave a small chuckle, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I still can't believe they did that – you sure told them off though. I was pretty blown away when Zara told me about that speech you gave. You never used to be that good at public speaking."

"Well, I don't know what to say. I just got so, _angry_, like – how could they blame her for that? They were the ones who approved the mission in the first place. You know, that whole time not one of them even thought to ask how I was coping, or how she was. No instead, they just focused on the political, the stuff that might get _them _in trouble. Sometimes, well – most of the time, humanity sucks."

"You know what sucks?" Zara cut in, for she had made her way back over to them, "They're out of the envelopes we need, and won't have them in stock until January."

Both girls smiled at her, and Erin felt all the tension leave her body – with Zara there was always a silver lining to that bloody cloud.

"So do we go straight to the hospital from here?" Lauren asked, almost hopefully.

"I guess so, seeing as there's not really that much else to do."

Lauren rushed to James' room straight away leaving Zara and Erin to walk slowly behind, and give the two sibling's a chance to catch up. Zara turned to Erin, "So are you sure you're okay? I mean, after all of that anyone in their right mind would be a bit twigged out."

"Yeah Zara, im fine – honestly. No, don't look at me like that. I. AM. FINE. Seriously."

Despite her convincing tone, Zara couldn't help but wonder – was she really okay? Would she ever be okay again?

Enough of that though, it was time to talk to James and ask him some very important questions.

He looked good, not as pale and sickly looking as he had been. His blonde hair was matted though, and you could see the stitches running along his hairline down the back. So all in all, James Adams was going to have nothing more than a few battle scars – at least, that was what she hoped. But all that didn't matter when he saw her, because his face just broke out into this massive smile and he looked the same as he had before all of this mess.

She ran over to give him a hug, and nearly collided with the drip – still feeding him the necessary vitamins and water to keep him hydrated. James chuckled, typical Lauren – too busy rushing around to even notice what was happening right in front of her. "Woah, slow down. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, kiddo."

Lauren scowled, and playfully hit her brother "Shut up. And my name is Lauren, not kiddo."

"Hey, it's all the same to me. It doesn't matter what I call you anyway – you still won't leave me alone. Stalker."

Zara walked in just at that moment, followed slowly by Erin. "James, I see you're looking well. Dr. Campion told me the good news too, congratulations. It'll be great to have you back on campus!" She grinned, and walked over to give him a quick hug. That was when he noticed Erin, standing hesitantly in the doorway. "You're Erin aren't you? Lauren's friend," He looked at Lauren for confirmation, which she gave by nodding her head.

"Well, don't just stand there – come in."

She walked slowly, almost as if she was watching her every step. Zara's eyes flickered between the three and she figured that she should leave them alone for a while, to catch James up on some campus gossip and the like. "I'm going to go to campus for a bit, but I'll leave you two here. You can catch James up on all the latest happenings, and maybe help him pack up his stuff. I won't be that long and anyway, you'll get along better without me here."

All three nodded there heads in agreement, even Erin who hadn't said a word since her talk with Zara in the hospital lobby.

* * *

**Erin's POV:**

I couldn't believe how stupid I was being, honestly. You'd think that I was being forced to walk across hot coals – not try and talk to someone. But, to be honest, I hadn't talked to anyone besides Zara and Lauren since the other night, oh – and those people in the boardroom but they didn't really count did they? At least, they didn't in my book. So looking at James was okay, but trying to talk to him? That was a bit beyond my current qualifications. It didn't really matter at this point in time though, because Lauren was happily babbling away to him about stuff and James was just sitting there absorbing it – smile plastered on his face. See as much as they both complain about each other, I reckon after this that James and Lauren will probably be a lot closer.

James turned to look at me, with a curious expression on his face "You look familiar, do you have an older brother or sister on campus?"

I giggled nervously, oh merlin_ – 'here we go_,' I thought "No, you actually tutor my little sister though. The name Emer ring a bell?" I saw him nod, and just as I was about to continue "and I'm sure you know Kyle, he's my-" in walks the infamous Kyle Blueman. What _perfect _timing he has.

"James you sure have some ex- Erin?" Kyle cut off his words mid-sentence, pleased at seeing James but confused at finding Erin in his hospital room.

**(A/N: oooooh. so who's Kyle to Erin and why is he so interested in seeing her? REVIEW PLEASE ! )**


	14. Our Happy Story

**(A/N: Thanks to all reviewers, i love you all. I hope the cliffhanger wasn't too bad. Uhm, any questions about this chapter just PM me or review? I hope this answers most of your questions.)**

**Disclaimer: **Really? Again? *sighs* okay, -bored voice- i do not lay claim to CHERUB or any characters affiliated with it.

**Kyle's POV:**

_Found her._ Was the first thought that went through my head, as if we'd been playing a big game of hide and seek. The next you may ask? Well really, my head was going about three hundred miles an hour so unless you're some genius mathematician like James (and Lauren I guess) then I don't think you would be able to understand anything of what was happening inside my brain right then. Luckily, she spoke up because even James and Lauren were looking at us confusedly; probably wondering what the hell was going on. "Scuse us guys, I think I need to have a word with Kyle outside" she said, and I found myself being dragged outside by her (which was no mean feat, I mean _look _at her – she's tiny).

I was pretty much stunned, and I don't even know why. Once we found a corridor that was deserted, she turned around to face me. I don't exactly know why, but when I saw the look on her face my stomach dropped. You know that feeling like when you're on a rollercoaster and you suddenly go over the crest and go crashing down? Well like that, except without the euphoria and good feeling. This only filled me with a sense of dread, and if I'd known what would be said in that conversation then I think I'd have bet on me being psychic. She suddenly hugged me, one of those bone crushing hugs that make you forget how to breathe to try and focus on how to get out of it.

I spoke first, "Hey, long time no see. Where've you been? And why are you and Zara going off to conference's in London? Why's everyone being so secretive? What happened?" I suppose the last part sounded a bit like a childish demand, but I really wanted to know. I was sick of being kept in the dark, dammit – Kyle Blueman was going to be informed! Her voice wavered as she spoke, and I had the distinct impression that she was feeding me a bunch of lies "Hey yourself smart alec. I was in Ireland remember? Uhm, myself and Zara went to London cause some stuff went wrong on my mission but I'm fine now. Honestly Blueman, nothing to worry about."

BULLSH*T, I felt like screaming at her. I probably should have too, knowing now what I didn't then. Instead I said, "You're not getting away from me that easily Erin Grace Reilly, you either spill it to me now or I go marching in there and I ask Lauren or Zara what happened." I guess when those people said _the best_ _offence is a good defence _they'd never met Erin, because as soon as I got intimidating her eyes turned defiant and she immediately released whatever grip on me she had left. When she next spoke, from about three feet away her voice was pleading, like she was trying to bargain with me"Leave it Kyle. Please. Just leave it. There's no need for you to get involved. No one else needs to get-"

"Hurt?" I asked, "Because this here-" I gestured to the space between us, "You not telling me stuff, not trusting me enough I guess, hurts. So you wanna 'fess up, or do I have to play dirty?"

I'd never seen someone so angry and stunned yet emotionless at the same time. She didn't need to say another word, I knew that I'd get nowhere for now, so instead I adopted an apologetic tone and pulled her into a hug "Okay, I'll drop it for now Erin. But if anything else happens you'd better tell me or im going straight to Zara." I don't think she nodded, but when I looked back down at her she had a friendlier expression on so I took it to mean I was forgiven. Walking back to James' hospital room was a pretty silent affair, other than congratulating her on her black shirt and she in turn asking me how my last mission was, we didn't talk much. I suppose we'd been gone a while because when we got back Lauren and James looked at us weirdly, and spoke as soon as we stepped into the room, in unison too – which, for them, is freaky.

"Okay you two, explain _now,_ and no-one has to get hurt." I almost laughed outright at that, as if James could do anything in his position and Lauren was a good fighter but she wouldn't be able to take on both Erin and myself. Erin looked at me and I shrugged, "There's no harm in telling them I guess. I just assumed you'd already told Lauren though."

"As I assumed you would have told James. It's not exactly something most people would be proud of Kyle." She replied coolly, and continued to explain "So Kyle here, yes – the big brute standing next to me, is my cousin. I know, when I found out I was shocked too I mean, -"

But before she could insult me further, I interrupted. "She has none of my good looks at all. Okay so, im guessing you want the story?" Both James and Lauren nodded their heads, speechless.

"So my dad, Erin's uncle, was Erin's dads brother. But the thing is, my dad died way before I was born. As you know I've been in the system since I was pretty much a year old. Apparently, or so we've found out, my mum was murdered by the irish "mafia." James, it's not funny. There really is an irish mafia. So you're probably wondering why didn't I grow up a happy little chap with Erin and her fam or the rest of my family? Well, my dad ran away from home, changed his name and even then I didn't have a birth certificate. His family didn't know about my mum because she was only on the scene after he ran away."

I turned to Erin, "I guess you should carry on the story from here? I can't really lay claim to much."

She nodded, and began her side of the story "I haven't really told anyone this, although I think a few people on campus may know – my dad, (Kyle's uncle) wasn't on the good side of the law. He was a crook, and far from a petty one either. He was involved in that mafia, that ended up killing Kyle's mum. I hope that he didn't infact know who she was, but I suppose he may have. My mum was just a small country town girl from out in the middle of woop-woop; I don't think she really had a clue what my dad was into before it was too late. By that time, our family was already receiving death threats and so we made the move to Australia. I was six, and this was before Emer was born. I can vaguely remember some family members but they were all old and so I guess they weren't around by the time I became a warden of the state. All I know is, my parents got on a flight to Phu Ket and never got off. They were unable to recover my dad's body as well, Zara says that he could even still be out there somewhere. A pretty slim chance if you ask me; although not entirely impossible. I also know that that airplane crashing wasn't an accident. You can call it ESP or even call me a fuddy-duddy, but I just know that something wasn't right about it."

And there she stopped, inhaling a deep breath. I placed my arm around her shoulder, letting her know I was still there – she definitely was not alone in this. Lauren and James still hadn't spoken and when I looked up at them, Lauren had tears in her eyes and even James had a serious expression on his face. Well I couldn't blame them I mean, our story wasn't exactly your typical family story was it? Pretty heavy stuff actually, even compared to the kids at CHERUB.

**(A/N: REVIEW! PLEASE?)**


	15. Santa's coming

**(A/N: So this chapter's going to be a bit choppy and changy with everybody's point of view.)**

**Erin's POV:**

So I'm sitting here, wondering what the hell I was thinking letting Kyle and Lauren go off to the cafeteria without me. Not that I'm complaining about being here with James, I mean he's great company, but seriously, I'm just having idiot moment after idiot moment here. Letting my too-overprotective as it is, older cousin go somewhere with my knows-to-much best friend was probably not going to win me a nobel prize. I should have told Lauren that I wasn't up to telling Kyle yet but, yet again, my brain had pretty much wiped after all that emotional storytelling. I was just hoping and praying that she hadn't assumed anything.

Who knows? Maybe he wouldn't ask her about it. Yeah, _right._ Sorry, forgot I was talking about Kyle Blueman here. James speaks, and I realize that I've been staring into space for more time than a normal person probably would. Not that by any other means I'd be considered a normal person, but still. I suppose I should probably answer him, and I do – racking my brain all the while trying to remember everything Lauren had recently told me about Campus. Soon I spot Lauren and Kyle making their way back up the hall, and I cross my fingers as they approach and I take Kyle's smile and laugh as my answer. Thank the Lord for Lauren, what would I do without her? Probably spontaneously combust into a million pieces that would float around forever, causing more chaos and havoc than I ever could while living.

**Kyle's POV:  
**"Oh come on Lauren, you know that I know that you know, so just spill. Besides, she told me all about it anyway, so I'm just confirming my facts."

This wasn't working the way I'd planned, Lauren refused to answer any questions and I was just looking more desperate by the minute. Definitely not good if I was trying to scam her into thinking that my cousin had told me everything there was to know. She raised her eyebrow, and responded with a voice full of skepticism "Okay Kyle, you go first."

Okay, so this plan was definitely not working out. Oh well, here I go. "Uhm, well, you see – the thing is…"  
Lauren smirked, sure in my awkwardness that she had won. I continued, "Lauren can't you just tell me what happened? She's my cousin for Christ sake, my only family."

"Kyle it's not my story to tell, and you know that. Just leave her to herself for awhile, I'm sure she will tell you eventually." 'Eventually' is not what I'm aiming for here, I thought to myself. "Okay then Lauren, but will you at least try to convince her to tell me. I mean, I think I have a right to know. If something, or somebody, has hurt her than I, as her only older male relative, have the right to smash the living bejesus out of them okay? Same goes for you, you know. What with James being the dud he is, I'm sure you might need one soon. Especially what with Rat always following you around."

She laughed, "God, I forget how long you've been away Kyle" seeing the confused expression on my face she continued, "Honestly man, don't you know that Erin and Rat were going out for a good few months before she left for Ireland?" I shook my head, no, I had no idea they'd been going out. "What do you mean 'were'?" I ask, thinking of the many ways that I can cause Rat pain. Lauren looked uncomfortable for a second, before answering "Well she broke up with him before she went away because you know what mission's are like – unpredictable. "

I think it's about time that I ask Zara what's going on around here.

**James' POV:  
**"So, what's the latest gossip on campus?" I asked, snapping Erin out of her reverie. She blushed, obviously aware that she'd been sitting there like that for a while.

"I wouldn't really know actually, I just got back from a mission in Northern Ireland. I was away for a few months, so Lauren's been filling me in. It would seem that Bethany and Jake have been flown off to the other side of the world, even though when I got back they were both confined to their rooms. Something to do with drugs, the mission that is. Also, Kyle's been taken off his suspension – and he's now re-allowed on missions, so that's good. Uhm, what else? Well, there's this redshirt who landed himself in the infirmary. Was climbing one of the trees, you know out near the dojo? Fell off and caught his ankle on the old barbed wire fence. Yes – ouch."

"So pretty much an ordinary week then?"

She laughed, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

It was then that Kyle and Lauren walked in laughing, completely oblivious to our conversation. Zara quickly followed, and before I knew it Lauren, Erin and Kyle were saying goodbye and I was left in the bright white shell that was my hospital room.

**Zara's POV:  
**After arranging some therapy lessons for Erin, on the advice (well threat) of the committee, I walked back to James' room to collect the others because it was time we all got back to campus. Too see them all laughing was good, heaven knows it'd been awhile since some of them had. "Sorry to break up the party guys but we've really got to get back to campus, and James I'll come and pick you up on Wednesday, just in time for Christmas."

He smiled, nodded and we all said goodbye and made our way back to CHERUB campus. I noticed that Kyle kept looking at Erin when he thought she wasn't looking, so I'm guessing that she hadn't told him yet. As yet I couldn't see any reason to interfere, I just hoped that she knew what would happen if he wasn't told sooner rather than later.

Pulling into campus, I couldn't help but think about Lauren and how she somehow always managed to be the strong one through all of this. I should make it a point to have a talk with her after, see how she's coping. I mean, it's not exactly normal for a thirteen year old orphan to have her fourteen year old brother in hospital with a brain tumour, and her best friend going through a crisis after being attacked. Oh, and on top of all that, she's also a British Intelligence Agent. So yes, I should definitely talk to her soon.

**Lauren's POV:  
**Zara keeps looking at me funny and I'm starting to wonder whether I have something on my face. After checking it in the mirror, I'm left to wonder why she's looking at me. Knowing Zara, it'd be about how I'm always in the midst of chaos, but I honestly don't know why and I don't really care. If my family or friends are in trouble, then I don't care what else is happening, I do what I can. As for recent events, it's times like these that I sometimes wish I lived a normal life. Then I remember what my life was like before CHERUB, and quickly put that daydream away. To think of going back to the council flats where knocks on the door by police were a part of everyday life and you played with drug dealer's kids, and the cops' children alike – was crazy.

Anyway, that was enough of the soul-searching stuff for today and besides, we were back on campus. Time to have a long, hot shower and sleep. It felt like it'd been a gajillion years since I'd last slept and it was definitely catching up on me. Walking upstairs, matched stride for stride by Erin, I felt more relief than I had for a while. James had been given the OK, Christmas was in a few days and Erin was coping well with everything. The only person who I was worried about was Kyle, but I suppose he's big enough to look after himself.

I could hear the radio blaring in the room next to me, "Hehehe, hey kids, guess what? Christmas is in a few days and what does that mean? We get a visit from SANTA CLAUS! YAY!" Great, i guess that means there'll be non-stop christmas carols for the next week. "YAY!"

**(A/N: Okay, so im wondering whether i should keep going or skip a couple of years, and have some flashbacks of the important things later on. Please help? Reviews are very much appreciated :)**


	16. Oh Snap

**(A/N: I was really focused on writing one last chapter but i couldn't condense it so i'll be writing a few more. Sorry about the wait between updates guys, thankyou for the reviews though! (: **

**P.S. Too kazza, i will try and see what i can do with that story - who knows, i might make a whole fiction like this. Thanks for the idea!)**

Red and Green tinsel lined the hallways, there were paper snowflakes and miniature snowmen everywhere in the junior block and even the elevator music had been changed to Christmas carols. It was official – Christmas had come to CHERUB at last. Even some of the doors in the senior block had wreaths on them, although most students wouldn't be caught dead with one within 100 metres of their rooms. As soon as you stepped outside any bit of you that wasn't covered, from your head to your toes, would freeze and the snow was only just starting to come down. Already the football pitches, basic training compound, cricket field, firing range, tennis courts, height obstacle course and paintball zone were covered, leaving behind some very unhappy and very bored CHERUB's. Zara Asker, mission controller and current chairwoman of CHERUB, ran her hand through her hair for what seemed like the thousandth time that day as she hung up the phone.

Meryl Spencer, so-termed "handler you don't want to mess with" of the senior block, shot her a worried look as she opened the door to Zara's office, "What's up now? And, what are you still doing here? You should be at home with your family by now." Zara scoffed slightly, as she gestured to Meryl to take a seat, "What's wrong is I have about 500 CHERUB agents sitting in their rooms, who can't go outside and so have nothing better to do than sit there and plot away. It feels like they're plotting my death, that is about the hundredth phone call I've had today about the grey shirts annoying the red shirts. I am seriously considering lockdown, because these kids are just driving me crazy."

Meryl couldn't help but laugh, "Well at least you can feel safe in knowing that Mr. Adams is laid up in bed, on rest instructions from the doctor, I don't know what he was thinking – one day home from the hospital and he's out there playing football with the boys. I could have killed him when I saw the state of him."

"Yes well, Mr. Adam's isn't the only one I have to worry about. Miss Reilly hasn't been having the best luck of late, and I've just received the envelope from the committee about what's to happen to her, but she made me promise not to open it until she was here. I actually meant to call her after I got off the phone with Chloe. I suppose I can kill two birds with one stone if I walk back with you, I'll visit James after I see Erin."

Meryl stood up, "Make sure you grab your coat Zara, it is absolutely freezing out there." She wasn't kidding, but it wasn't long before they were in the lobby of the main building, and heading towards the elevator. Some younger navy shirts gawked at Zara as they exited the lift but she merely smiled, before brushing past them and into the elevator where the doors were closing. The door was unlocked, but unlike most of the inhabitants of CHERUB campus, Zara knocked on the door before entering. Meryl waited outside, because even though she was Erin's handler she felt it was probably better to give her her privacy, especially with what that envelope could contain. When Zara entered she saw that Erin was seated next to Lauren on the lounge, and the two of them were watching a movie – popcorn and all. But as soon as she saw Zara, Erin turned off the television and said "It's arrived, hasn't it? Time to see whether I'm getting the boot or not then."

Lauren stood up to leave, but Erin grabbed her hand and pulled her back down firmly, "If anyone else deserves to here this then it's you Lauren, and you too Meryl, come on in" the last part she called out loud enough so that Meryl could hear her. Once everybody was seated, Zara carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the contents, which she then proceeded to read aloud "The committee has come to the decision that in the case of Erin Grace Reilly, she should be allowed to stay on as a CHERUB agent on the conditions that she:

a) attend regular counseling sessions until her counselor has sent us a report that we are happy with;

b) is suspended from missions, even regular surveillance ones, until we deem fit;

c) agrees to willingly remain a CHERUB agent, and therefore an agent with the British Intelligence Service.

If, for any reason, any of these conditions are broken, her case is to be reviewed by the committee immediately and she will be placed on immediate suspension… And the rest of it is legal jargon, but the gist of it is – you're staying, that is, if you want to." "IF I WANT TO? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME ZARA, I HAVEN'T GONE LOOPY. OF COURSE I BLOODY WANT TO" Erin screamed, as she and Lauren jumped up and down, and around as some teenage girls do when excited.

Meryl and Zara couldn't get the grins off their faces, after all it was good news for them too. When all was said and done, and the jumping had stopped Zara left to quickly visit James before finally going home. Meryl had some paperwork to do so, as it had been little more than half an hour ago, the two girls were left alone. The movie forgotten, they talked about the conditions of Erin's staying, particularly about the counselor part. "Any bet it's Jenifer Mitchum," said Lauren as she popped some more popcorn into her mouth. Erin considered this before saying, "I suppose it could be, but then they'll probably want someone who is going to be totally and completely impartial, not that I'm questioning Jenifer's professionability but, you know, she knows me and besides, she can't be the only counselor the British Intelligence service has in employment." Lauren nodded, "I suppose that's true. Well, I'd better be off, I was going to go and visit James, do you want to come?" Shaking her head, Erin got up to put the popcorn in the bin "No, I think i'll leave you two kids to it tonight. Maybe another time."

Before she left Lauren reminded Erin about the group's Christmas shopping tomorrow ("Ten O'Clock, don't be late.") And then, she was gone. After showering, and having a quick snack Erin decided that it was probably best to have an early night – especially because she was starting her swim training again tomorrow and the sooner she got in the pool, the earlier she'd be for the Christmas shopping trip.

* * *

Coming to the end of the pool, after completing the last of uncountable laps of freestyle, Erin pulled herself out of the water, before heading to the change rooms to have a shower and cool off. She glanced at the clock on the wall in the change room's and realised she'd have to hurry up if she wanted to make it to the other side of campus by ten o'clock. Lauren would murder her if she was late. There was set to be a fair few of them going as well; Rat, Bethany, Lauren, Callum and Connor, Gabriel, James, Herself and Kyle (who they'd roped into driving) and the whole thing was going to be interesting to say the least. They had decided to get most of their shopping done first before meeting up again for lunch and taking it from there. She had a fair idea of what to get most of her friends (Watch for Bethany – cause she was always late, Rat needed some new video game etc.) it was only Lauren who she could not think of a present for.

What do you get the person who's been through everything with you? Certainly not some crummy gift from the two dollar shop. She'd vaguely considered asking Bethany but the girl would either get jealous that she was putting so much attention into Lauren's present or come up with bad ideas, so she'd resolved on asking James. Hopefully he'd get it right, she prayed he would. By now ready to go, she ducked out of the pool complex only to spot a familiar blonde head cutting across the pool 'lawn' (aka the grounds around the pool complex). "James!" She shouted, running to catch up with him "Good, i thought i was going to be the only late one."

He laughed, as they sighted the car park near the main building, "Well, for once, I didn't sleep in. I actually have a legit excuse." Erin smirked at him, raising her eyebrows "James Adams with a legitimate excuse? I suppose there's a first for everything. Go on then, let's hear it." "Well, I was with Meryl at the med's office, just getting some vitamins that are supposed to help my bones or something. She was running late, but I didn't want to point that out and risk her blowing up at me like she did the other day when she found me playing soccer with the lads."

He pulled a clear bottle, filled to the brim with small blue tablets, out of his pocket and waved it around "The Doc raved so much about them, you'd have though they were the bloody cure for cancer." They weren't late and they weren't even the last ones to get there, but as soon as everybody had, they were off. Erin turned to Lauren, a look of curiosity on her face, "Uhm Lauren, would you be able to tell me why Bethany is currently looking at me like I've stolen her iPod? Have I done something wrong, that I don't know about?" Lauren's eyes flicked from where they'd been staring out the window, across the aisle to where Bethany was sitting – staring at them both, "What that? Let's just say Bethany and I are having a bit of a problem at the moment but it's nothing to do with you, so don't worry about it. She'll get over herself soon enough." "Right, well are you okay? Do you need someone to back you up on something?"

"No, no I can handle it and besides, i think you've got enough on your plate without having to deal with me and Bethany."  
"Okay then, but i'm here, just remember - if you need someone to break into her room and replace her shampoo with bleach then i'd be happy too!"

* * *

Everyone had agreed on a time and place to meet up, and they'd all gone off in their own directions, James with Kyle, Erin with Lauren, Rat with Bethany and so forth. Their present shopping was done quickly and swiftly, and the girls thought it would be a good idea to go and get some food. Too bad Bethany was already in the food court. Rat beckoned them over with a smile and wave, Lauren rolling her eyes the whole way.

Sitting down, Bethany didn't acknowledge either of them, instead she stared intently at the floor - grimace plastered on her face. Rat was the one to break the awkward silence, which he was completely oblivious too, "Erin, congratulations on your Black shirt! How was your mission? I've heard bits and pieces, but you know how campus gossips can be."  
Lauren and Erin shared a small glance and smile, "Thanks Rat, uh it was good. Wasn't too long either, you know? It's great to be back though, it's getting to that stage where my sister's growing a centimeter every time i blink - she'll be as tall as me soon and she's only eight! It's not fair. Oh but i'm getting off track there, how are you? What's been happening with Rat while i was away? I actually haven't seen you in ages."

"Oh that's good, and yeah i know! I'm great, i've got some projects on the down low and i've been helping rebuild some more go-carts to race around campus. I'm pretty sure i've got a mission coming up soon, with all the extra work my teacher's have been giving me and the health checks i've had. So yeah, i'm pretty good."

"That's great Rat, can we go now - I want to go and look at some more stores. Besides, something smells around here, don't you think?" Bethany said, pushing her chair back from the table and looking anywhere but at Lauren and Erin.

They both smiled at Rat who looked panicked, "It's okay Rat, you can go. And please, take C_ruella De Vil_ with you (a/n: but she didnt really say that did she readers? chorus: nooo. but we need to be child friendly, so just insert your own expletive name there).

The two walked off but it wasn't long before the rest of the crew were there, stuffing there faces. Kyle and James ate the most, although the twins gave them some pretty stiff competition. Erin didn't get to corner James and ask him about Lauren's present but resolved on doing it the day after. It was time to go back to campus and think about Bethany, and why Rat was her new personal slave.

**(A/N: Bitch please ****(*muttering* stupid bethany and her stupid hair and her stupid face)****. Oh sorry, still in character*****wipes face off* okay so, reviews please? Any ideas or critics (no flames please) you'd like to share is welcomed. Until next time, asta la vista ! )**


	17. Christmas at last! :

**(A/N: Okay, here we go - it's Christmas Eve and this is our final chapter for this year (at least in the text). Hope you guys enjoy it)**

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, no.

"It's time we took some action," came the whispered voice through the darkness, directed at the huddled mass of shadows. James Adams rolled his eyes, "Oh you don't say, Rat? And If we keep standing around chatting all night, then we'll definitely lose and therefore have to spend the rest of tonight outside in this weather."

"I agree with James," Lauren said "and, as we are the older and more experienced agents, what we say goes. Is that alright with everyone?"  
She looked around at the group, a bunch of white eyes amongst the black sky, several pairs nodding back at her. "Rat you'll go with Gabi, you need to walk the perimeter – you guys will be Alpha; Callum you go with Jacob and double around in the opposite direction – you guys can be Bravo. Dana, you'll come with me and we'll do surveillance and possibly see if we can infiltrate base camp – we'll be Charlie. James, Erin you two will stay here and watch the prize – and _please_ make sure it doesn't get taken – you guys can be Delta. Because if we lose, I will personally chop both your heads off."

With a bit of grumbling, and some sorting out of who would get the walky-talkies and night-vision goggles (James and Erin would get one walky-talky, one pair of night-vision goggles; the surveillance team would get the same; Gabi and Callum would get the last pair of goggles while Callum and Jacob would get the last walky-talky.) "And lastly," she added "Be safe."

Gabrielle and Rat made their way along the fence, pausing every few moments to listen. They didn't exchange any words, only glances to communicate that they were okay. Once they got to a clear outcrop, they would stop and take a look around with the goggles. Gabrielle was currently doing this when she stopped, "Rat" she hissed, "Come here; take a look at this. Something's not right." Rat looked through the lenses, and saw nothing. "Hang on, shouldn't we be seeing at least a few body's – something, moving around."

"Yes we should be, but I can't. We need to find Callum and Jacob, get this message back to James and Erin, see what they make of it."

"I agree," said Rat, still looking confused. They decided to finish walking the perimeter before trying to find Callum and Jacob. It wouldn't take them too long, especially if the boys were following the correct route which, hopefully, they were.

They made it to the end of the perimeter, where Gabrielle positioned herself in the tree while Rat hid in a bush with the bags. "And now," sighed Gabrielle "We wait."

James and Erin had decided to place the prize up a tree, that way it was hard to access and no-one would suspect it was up there. James was currently up the tree, using the night-vision lenses to survey the surrounding countryside. Erin was down the bottom, trying to adjust the volume on the walky-talky; so that she could listen to it without causing too much of a disturbance and alerting anybody to their whereabouts. She could hear Dana just finishing off a conversation with Jacob "Alright, i'll let L know. You see if you guys can find Bravo and get them back to base." The group had thought it would be better to refer to everybody by the first letter of their name, it would make things a bit quicker and easier. "D, tell L to be careful. Those white-shirts are crazy, especially McEwan. If anything happens, don't say anything." It sounded like Callum this time, and Erin heard Dana sigh "Yes C, we do know what we're doing. Just remember, it's only a training exercise. Charlie signing off." Erin decided to chime in, before Callum went as well "C, it's E. Everything's good here, the loots up the duff (James had initiated this code word, much to the other's boys mirth – it was a simple way of saying that the stuff had been placed somewhere high) and we've got a watcher. How's everything on-the-line?"

Callum sounded a bit surprised to hear her voice so soon after Dana's had gone, but he quickly recovered "Line's covered but Bravo's no-where to be seen. We'll walk the remainder, see if we can find them. Keep your talker on and listen for news. Alpha off." She should probably tell James that Rat and Gabrielle had gone M.I.A. but she didn't want to attract any un-wanted attention. Callum was right, those white shirts were hard-core and she was already cold from sitting still for a moment. She walked to the bottom of the tree and tried to attract James' attention, although she wouldn't be able to tell if he could see her or not because of how dark it was. She felt like an idiot as she mimed that she was going for a walk, but she hoped that he could see her anyway.

She decided to walk around the base of the tree before going around the bushes and over to the fence. She'd walked it a few times before she heard the rustling, it sounded like someone was trying to get close to the camp but quietly. She figured she hadn't been seen yet because the sound was coming from her right, but it was further up the trail a bit. From where she was standing, she could just see the tree, but James was hidden by the branches. Erin thanked the Lords that she hadn't brought the walky-talky with her because knowing her luck, someone's voice would have come spurting out of it just as she got close to the hidden assailants.

She wasn't that far away from where she'd heard the noise now, and she could feel an imprint in the soil. **(A/N: I know that sounds weird, but you know when you're walking on soft ground like grass or whatever, and you can feel the bumps sometimes? If that doesn't help then let's just say she has small feet, and she stepped in someone else's footprint? Whatever works for you.) **She dropped down low as she heard a familiar voice "I can't see anyone, maybe we should go back to the perimeter. See if we can find James and Erin on the way." Relaxing, she sighed – it was only Callum and Jacob, "PSSST. Guys, it's me – behind you. Yes Jacob, Erin."

Callum was a bit pale and Jacob's eye was a little bit swollen but overall the pair looked fine "You okay Cal? You look a bit white."  
He laughed "Yeah I'm fine, just got my ankle caught in a trap they set. I think I rolled it, but I'm doing okay."  
Erin smiled at him through the darkness, "Have you wrapped it yet? That way you won't do any more damage to it and you'll be able to move faster with not so much pain."  
"Nope, we don't have any bandages or anything else to wrap it with." She stood up, and moved closer to try and see the ankle but in the darkness she basically had to see it with her hands.  
"Okay, one of you has to take their shirt off."

"_WHAT?"_

"Well, as you two are the only boys here and we have nothing else to wrap it with I need a top. Besides Cal, we went through basic training together – it's not like I haven't seen you without your top off before."  
Callum's voice went almost squeaky as he protested "But that was like three years ago! I think i'll just have to live with the pain. This'll all be over with sooner or later anyway."  
Jacob cleared his throat "Callum, don't be a wuss. It's practically pitch black anyway, this might not be over until morning and, by my estimate, that means you'd have to wait another seven hours or so. I'd give you mine, but let's remember i'm the one wearing shorts – I need all the warmth I can get, you on the other hand are wearing track pants. Man Up, Dude."

So, much to Callum's displeasure, Erin used his top to wrap his ankle and support it "See? Much better, isn't it?"  
Callum grumbled but consented "Yes, it is. And even though I'm now freezing, thank you."

"That's okay, now we'd better make our way back. I'm feeling a little bit suspicious about what's going on here. Yeah, up you get – okay, one arm around Jacob shoulder's and one around mine, and we'll see how fast you can hop." Luckily they weren't too far from the tree, so Callum wouldn't have to suffer for long.

Lauren was making her way through the undergrowth, commando-crawling along. The ground was wet, but it was a blessing in disguise. Wet floor means no dry leaves or grass crackling as you go over it, thereby alerting everyone else to your whereabouts. Dana had made contact with team Alpha and had told Lauren "to be careful". She was on the lookout for any sign of movement, or of the inhabitants. This all seemed a little strange, none of the white-shirts had been seen since they'd been hauled out of the back of the van. They'd been given a mission briefing, each one in a different language and, to make it harder, each contained a different piece of information so they had to translate the briefings and put them together. To top it all off they'd had about ten minutes to read it, in front of the van's lights before it had been taken off them and they'd been told to bugger off. From what she could see, she knew there was about ten white-shirts and the only two she could identify were McEwen and Kyle. There was also a few girls, although none that she could recognise in the dark. From what she had gathered in the back of the van, there was a reason why certain people were chosen. It wasn't just black shirts (Jacob and Dana were still navy-shirts) but there was a repetitive pattern, each one of them had been on a mission in the last year (which probably meant nothing, by CHERUB standards) and each one of them had had a sibling (Dana and Gabrielle's older brothers had graduated from CHERUB a year or so ago). It was a weird thing for them to pick up on but, by now, Large and whoever else was in charge of these things were probably picking random things to go on. She stopped as she heard a sound from above, but once she looked up she saw it was only a possum. This whole thing was practically a massive game of capture-the-flag but if they lost, they had to spend the next few nights out here without food or shelter. If they won on the other hand, they got nothing – except the satisfaction of taunting the white-shirts. At least that was what she thought, but boy was she wrong.

James sat still in the tree because, although his bum was killing him and the cold was making himstiff, if he moved and made a noise then Erin would kill him – not to mention what Lauren and the rest of the team would do. He thought he heard something but, looking down, he was pretty sure it was just Erin at the bottom of the tree. She was probably going for a walk to warm herself up – lucky girl. He looked around with the glasses but couldn't see much through the foliage, although he doubted the white-shirts would be able to find him (and 'the treasure'). He'd certainly been given a shock when an unknown white shirt had burst into his room; uncanny to the last time.

"_Grab what you can in five seconds, after that you're out." James was confused, he'd been blissfully asleep when suddenly someone had burst into his room, casting light into his eyes. Luckily for him, he remembered what had happened last time and was able to grab a jacket and long pants. Lauren had obviously remembered as well, he saw she was wearing long pants when he was thrown in the back of the van. In the dim light, before the door was closed, he'd noticed Gabrielle, Rat, Callum and Jacob. The crew were soon joined by Dana, who was just as confused as the rest of them. They were all talking quietly when they heard a commotion outside the van and Erin entered laughing but looking a bit shaken. The van door was left slightly open so they could just see each other's outlines. Lauren shot the other girl a worried look, "What was that all about?"_

"_I may have given McEwen a black eye. HEY, don't look at me like that you guys, I did it before I realised what was happening." They all started laughing at the look on her face, along with the story – the thought of this tiny girl giving someone as intimidating as McEwen a black eye? Hilarious. Jacob held out his fist for a fistbump, "I don't care if it was by accident, you're officially my new hero."_

_Someone slammed the back door and suddenly it was all black, the van rattled as the driver's door slammed. "So does anybody know where we're going?" came Rat's voice from the corner, thickened by sleep and confusion. "Nope, but I'm hoping it's somewhere on campus. That way we know we're safe."_

Long story short, they'd been told that if they didn't win well, they were stuffed.

***  
Zara Asker was furious. Not only had Large disobeyed her direct orders, but he had included two CHERUB's in this exercise that all staff at CHERUB knew to lay-off, at least for the moment. She'd been in the middle of a sit-down dinner with her family (the first in a while – it _was _Christmas Eve after all) when the fax that she'd asked him to send her of all CHERUB's participating in the exercise had come through, Erin Reilly and James Adam's names present on that list. She had strictly forbade anyone from going near those two, especially Large. She knew he had a sadistic sense of humour but this was going too far. She had apologised to Ewart, kissed the kids goodnight and hopped in the car straight away – the whole time thinking about the different ways she could strangle him. Finally, she arrived on campus and headed straight for the basic training compound. Large was in his office, sitting in his office chair with his feet up on the desk. The screens in front of him showed night-vision images of various parts of the compound. "Norman, would you like to explain to me why you went behind my back and put both James Adams and Erin Reilly on this exercise? Because right about now, I'm thinking maybe a younger person would be better suited to your job."

His feet flew off the desk as he nearly fell backwards out of his chair, "Aah Zara. I knew I'd be seeing you sooner or later, I thought it was time those two participated in one of these things. There's no need to baby them."

Zara counted to five as she tried to calm down, this was not going to end well if she kept getting angry. "Norman, it is not your job to tell me what to do. Those two have been through some traumatic events recently and right now they should be recovering, they are not in the position to be running around in the middle of the night."

"This is hardly a momentous task, it's only a bit of training and-"

"IT IS NOT YOUR POSITION TO CHOOSE WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE READY TO PARTICIPATE IN A TRAINING EXERCISE. I AM CHAIRWOMAN OF CHERUB, THESE CHILDREN ARE UNDER MY DUTY OF CARE – YOU CANNOT JUST GO OVER MY HEAD NORMAN. THIS IS NOT OKAY."

"Zara, what is your problem? What happened to these two too make you so protective of them?" Large looked stunned at Zara's previous outburst but managed to answer her back – keeping an infuriating smirk on his face the whole time.

"None of your business, call off the exercise immediately. We will talk about this later."

"That'd hardly fair on the rest of the kids who are training," Large protested. Zara was still red in the face from her outburst, but she was ready to rip this man's head off. "Do it now or I will not even wait for tomorrow to come. I will fire you right here, right now."

"Fine, fine" He walked over to a switch board which had a microphone coming out of it. She could see through the cameras as the stadium lights in the compound flickered on and she heard Norman's voice echo throughout "Okay maggots, no more training exercise. As you now know, you are in the basic training compound so please make your way over to the instructor's hut. We have a visitor."

James nearly jumped out of his skin when the light flickered on next to him, but hearing Large's message shocked him more. He hopped down from the tree, making sure to bring the flag with him in case this was all a big joke on the white-shirts part. One thing did stick with him though – "a visitor?"

Erin smiled, "Thank God for that, I love you Cal but you're kinda hard work to help through the mud." Jacob's face mimicked hers, "Ditto to that." Callum laughed, his soon joined by theirs "Gee thanks guys, anyway we're nearly there. Hopefully that 'visitor' is Zara, I can show her the brutality of those white-shirts."

How right he was.

***  
Rat and Gabrielle looked fine, they were the best out of their group; no scratches or mud marks, nothing. Lauren and Dana, however, were a different story; Lauren was covered in (now dry) mud, along with a stray leaf or two. Dana had the odd streak of mud, and her arms were covered in scratches. James had a few tears in his clothing from climbing up and down the tree, along with a few scratches on his face and arms. They were nothing compared to Jacob, Callum and Erin. Erin gasped when she saw the two in the light "Oh Cal, just look at you. And _you_ Jacob, what on earth?" Jacob's eye was now completely swollen over, it was purple and looked very sore. He had a bit of dirt on him and a few scratches here-and-there but nothing worth complaining about. Callum's foot, or what you could see of it through the t-shirt bandage, was swollen and red; just looking at it made the others wince in pain. He had a big, bleeding scratch on his chest and he was now as white as a ghost. Erin was covered in mud, like Lauren, from when she had been trying to see who the boys were; she was covered in little red scratches from hiding in the bush and she had gone a bit white from the cold. Faced with the white-shirts, the group could make out Kyle, McEwen, Amy, Dave and six others who they couldn't identify. Kyle looked at Erin, his face a mixture of emotions – none that she could identify. Zara and Large were still walking over from Large's cabin, having a _very _heated discussion.

James looked over at Erin, Callum and Jacob, bemused "You're a fast operator aren't you? I'd say we've been out here for just over an hour and you've already got his top off."

"Oh yes James, because that's _exactly _what's going on here."

"- I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK NORMAN. JUST STOP." Zara came over to the group of assembled CHERUB's, her face blanching a bit at the sight of Jacob, Erin and Callum. "Sorry to stop the exercise so abruptly guys, but Mr Large here went against some of my rules for it so it's now cancelled. Yes, I know – Sorry, but hey you can now go enjoy Christmas Eve. Maybe if you're lucky Santa will give you a blanket or two, you all look positively freezing. I would like all of you to go straight to the cafeteria for a hot chocolate, tell the lunch ladies i'll be in there in a second. Mr White and Mr Foster, if you would make your way to the hospital wing, I'm sure someone there can look after you. Mr Adams, Ms Reilly if you wouldn't mind waiting behind. No, that doesn't include you Mr Blueman. Now, off you go."

***  
After assuring Zara that they were okay, James and Erin made their own way to the cafeteria ahead of her. "Well I'm glad that Large is in trouble at least. Not so sure about the whole thing about how we're off limits from everyone." James nodded "I know what you mean, but this way we can test the boundaries on a few things. I'm already thinking of a few pranks to pull."

***  
Kyle was on edge, glancing at the door every five seconds to try and spot his cousin. "James isn't going to hurt her you know? They're only walking from the training compound to here, relax Kyle" came Lauren's voice from next to him, making him jump a bit. He smiled at her "Oh haha, very funny. Yes I know, I'm just a bit worried about her. What with everything that's been going on lately I've hardly had time to see her. To top it all off you, Erin and Zara seem to be in cohoots about some big secret which, might I add, no-body will tell me about; My best-friend has just recovered from Cancer _AND _Callum Foster came out of the bushes with my cousin, without a shirt on. So yeah, excuse me for being a bit antsy."

Lauren's eyes grew a few sizes, as a few people looked over at them because of Kyle's outburst "Yes well don't forget, I can sympathise with you on most of those accounts. James is my brother, Erin is _my _best-friend and you're one of my good-friends too Kyle. I highly doubt you have anything to worry about with Callum, he and Erin went through basic together, as partners, so they're bound to be tight and besides, did you see his ankle? That was thanks to you guys, or whichever one of you set that trap. And do try and remember it's Christmas, Emer's highly likely not to forgive you if you forget to give her a present. "Santa's" pretty stingy round here, and she's going to need you tomorrow."

"Alright Lauren, I don't need any more of a lecture. Thanks for getting me out of my stupor." She smiled and hugged him before she went to walk away. Halfway back to the table she heard Kyle cry-out "HEY! 'Good-friend' is that all I am?"

***  
All of the CHERUBS slept soundly that night; Kyle on the floor in James' room, Callum and Jacob in the infirmary – ready to be released the next morning, Erin and Lauren in Erin's room because Lauren had had to give hers up to a few of the white-shirts and the rest in their respective rooms. Early the next morning, most of them made their way towards the junior block where they would receive their presents. Emer found Kyle and Erin and used them to bully her way through to near the front of the line. "Hey! Ouch! Ow! EMER, I'M NOT A ROBOT. YOU CAN'T CLIMB ME." Emer – who was halfway up Kyle's leg – laughed, and she was joined by her sister "Chill Kyle, she's just excited. Besides, I was thinking I could sit on your shoulders."

"Oh hahaha, very funny. And maybe I could put bleach in your shampoo. That's NOT happening, Ms Reilly."  
"You never know Blueman, you _never _know."

Everyone was given the standard CHERUB gifts, along with a few more personal ones. Kyle got a few little gifts from CHERUB too, mainly some aftershave and a few books on organisation (and the symptoms and treatments for OCD). Everyone gave out their own personal presents and cards, and everyone slowly headed back to their own rooms and to their friends. Erin found Lauren, Callum and Jacob outside her door when she got back with Kyle and Emer. Emer ran over and hugged Lauren before producing a present from out of nowhere "This is for you." Inside the carefully wrapped parcel was a charm bracelet, charmed with the letters in Lauren's name. "Oh thankyou cutie, you didn't have to do that." Emer beamed, happy that the girl she adored (like the older sister she did have – but a version she liked better) liked her present. She turned to Erin, "I'm hungry, can I go down and eat now?" Everyone in the hallway laughed, she was famed for her bottomless pit of a stomach. Erin smiled at her, "You sure can. How about I drop your present by your room later?" "Okay, bye guys. Bye Blue." 'Blue' was Kyle, Emer was in love with his last name and so insisted on calling him that.

After dropping their stuff inside, they all walked down to the cafeteria. It was a tradition of Erin and Callum's to race each other there so Lauren, Kyle and Jacob walked the rest of the way without them, James joining them on their way down. Lunch was a traditional meal of turkey, cranberry jam and assorted vegetables. There was also ham, as well as some non-meat alternative for Lauren and the rest of the vegetarians. There were all different types of dessert from all different countries around the world; tiramisu, pavlova, chocolate mousse, Yule logs, different types of poached fruits and many more. The four of them caught up with a breathless Erin and Callum at the front doors, Erin was doing some sort of victory dance "I won! I won! I won! I won! Oh that's right Cal, who won? I won! WOO HOO!" The latter four laughed at her and the look on Callum's face. "Yeah yeah, you won. But it's only because of my ankle, I hope you know that." She stuck her tongue out at him, as they all entered the cafeteria "You're just a sore loser. I won fair and square."

As per Christmas tradition, every CHERUB agent stuffed themselves silly that day. No-one felt the need to eat dinner that night, and some couldn't even eat breakfast the next morning. Kyle and James were not two of those people, and so there they found themselves – early boxing-day morning, sitting in the cafeteria. "So you have to go now huh? Do you know when you'll be back on campus?" James asked, looking at his best friend "Nope, but i'm hoping it'll be soon. I don't like staying away from the girls for too long, especially with Erin and you're sister keeping something from me. And you too, can't leave you alone for too long – you'll start acting like Bruce. You got your own teddy bear yet?"

"You're hilarious, but seriously I doubt it's anything to worry about mate, those girls keep anything and everything a secret. She'll be right, just you wait and see."

***  
Bethany and Rat turned the corner, they were on their way to see Zara. Apparently she had to talk to Bethany and so, naturally, Rat went along. "I'm telling you Rat, you hang out with me long enough and you'll be back with her in no time. Don't you worry." Rat smiled at Bethany, "Are you sure? After that last mission she seems really different and distant, I didn't think you guys were even friends any more."

"Don't worry yourself, I know what's really going on with that girl. The claims she made, and is probably going to make are all fake – I don't trust her, and I honestly don't see what you see in her. But that doesn't matter now, I will do what I can to help you."

Lauren and Erin were sitting with Kyle at a table in the cafeteria, James had gone off to the hospital wing for a routine check-up Zara had requested after last night. Erin was assuring Kyle, for the zillionth time, that nothing was wrong with her (nothing that she would tell him about anyway). "I'm fine Kyle, really. It's cute that you care though, you big marshmellow." "I'm just being the protective, overbearing older male relative that I should be. But you know I love you." She bet over and kissed his cheek, "Yeah I know."

And so they all lived happily ever after. Uh no, nice try.

**(A/N: So I think I did a pretty good job with my last chapter. It's pretty long, but I didn't have time to divide it up if I wanted to get this up today. I hope you guys enjoy it – Merry Christmas to you all! Season's Greetings and A Happy New Year as well! There will be an update soon, this one might be a filler chapter for between the years or I might just skip ahead till then. Anyway, have a happy and safe holidays you guys and thankyou all for a wonderful year. Please review, ideas and thoughts are valued deeply. :)**


	18. Pushed

**(A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's taken me so long to write this. This is just a bit of background/in between for when I do skip ahead that three or four years okay? This will be one or two parts and hopefully you guys will like it :)**

Emer Charlotte Reilly was a fighter. She never gave up, whether it was on her math's homework or an essay in English, she did what she could to stay ahead. But this, this was different. She'd been on her 83rd day of Basic Training, seventeen days – just over two weeks – away from getting her grey shirt and she'd blown it. And this meant that she had lost her ability to fight. With an injury eerily similar to Kerry's, Emer had decided she was not good enough for CHERUB.

So she quit.

Well, she tried to. Zara simply would not let her, not until the bones were healed and she had faced her sister. Oh God, her sister. She would be distraught.

* * *

Erin Reilly sat in her room, phone in hand desperately trying to make contact with anybody. Lauren, James, Zara, Callum, she'd even settle for Bethany – someone who could tell her what the hell was going on. With emotions running through her that where reminiscent of Kyle's trip to campus a few years back, when James had first been diagnosed, she was at a loss. All she'd been told, by the secretary at the front desk none-the-less, was that her sister had been about to complete an obstacle course in basic training – a mere two weeks before she was to finish, when she had fallen from a great height and possibly broken a great number of bones. Erin had been on a simple mission, one that barely lasted six hours. She'd gone in as a party guest, on the arm of an easily-persuaded boy, grabbed the information needed from the office and disappeared. Leaving campus, she'd reflected on how great it would be for her sister to finally be an agent. She'd turned ten barely two months ago, but she'd been rearing to have a go at basic. Now, Erin had no idea what state her sister would be in.

The fifteen year old girl had been told to return to her room until there was more that she could be told, apparently the time difference between here and there (no-one was allowed to know where the trainees had been shipped off to) was big and no doctors were picking up their phones in the middle of the night. She was comforted somewhat by the fact that James had been an assistant instructor on the exercise, but was still nervous about her sister. There had been a mention, although brief, of paralysis. She had nearly lost it at that word, but had managed to keep her composure. There was a knock on the door that knocked her out of her reverie, "Come in,"

In burst Callum, his face shocked "Hey, I heard what happened. No-one's telling me anything, except that I was to bring you to the mission control building. Someone said they've got her up on skype, James must've had his laptop with him. Zara just got here, and she's on it now speaking to the Doc. Kyle's unreachable but my guess is that he'll turn up soon enough once he gets the messages." He looked down at her, concern evident in his eyes "You okay? I mean, it might not be anything but it must have been abit of a shock for you."

She smiled up at him, shocked to find her eyes getting blurry with tears. Her composure that had stayed so rock-steady before seemed to be crumbling now that it was faced with someone familiar, someone who she'd broken down in front of before "It's just, when I got back everyone was looking at me sadly, like I'd lost somebody. When I was told there'd been an accident, my thoughts flew immediately to Kyle – not Emer. What kind of sister am I when she doesn't even come first? I'm a horrible sister, that's what. And, she – sh, sh, she might never walk again, and I'm there having fun partying. I'm awful, and I don't deserve to have her as a sister."

"Hey, there's no need to talk like that. I mean, it's pretty logical of you to think that it _would_ be Kyle – he is in trouble 24/7 and Emer's doing her basic; she's in the hands of the instructors. Now don't be silly, of course she'll walk! Is there ever a time when she's _not_ bouncing off the walls? Come On, let's get you to the Mission Control building and we'll see what's happening. Who knows, maybe Zara has her on the next flight home. Yes, up you get."

They were told to report to the third floor of the building, the room at the end of the hall. Callum asked if he could get her anything, "Lauren" she whispered, her voice still a bit hoarse from crying. "Will do," he said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder "and remember, she'll be fine. You Reillys are tough chicks." She smiled a bit at that, before walking into the room. To put it simply, it was massive. She had never been in this part of the building before, she doubted many people had. One of the walls was pure screen, the two on the side were covered in all sorts of computers and technology – she hazarded a guess that this was where they did some of their surveillance and hacking of computers. The one behind her was non-descript, painted a simple creamy colour. **(A/N: If you are having a seriously hard time picturing this, think the 'Orange' room in NCIS or even the OSP room in NCIS: Los Angeles; **.com/2010_12_01_ **)**

Zara stood in the middle talking to the man on the screen. He was Caucasian, looked to be in his mid-fifties and spoke with an underlying accent. "I believe that it is in her best interest to be on complete bed rest for the next two weeks, and for the month following that she should try and rebuild her strength. It might take a while for her muscles to remember, but once they do she'll be fine. As for her patella, surgery is not required as yet, but this case reminds me of a patient I was consulting on a few years ago. One of yours, I believe, her name was Kerry. Luckily for this young lady, her injury is not as bad as that although the time may come when she will need steel reinforcements in her kneecap. She is awake now Zara, and anxious to talk to you. The young man with her is rather pushy," – they heard a muffled 'HEY!' in the background; Erin smiled at James' tone – "and I think she wants to inform you of a few important decisions. Mrs Asker, please stress to her that it is of vital importance that she stay in bed, the risk of paralysis is still not impossible – even if it might be minor. Adieu."

There was the shuffling of the laptop, a quick vision of a small, white room and then James' face. "Zara? Is Erin with you yet? Have you told her-"

Zara, upon sighting that the older Reilly was in the room, cut James off "She's right here James and no, I haven't mentioned anything yet and it would do you some good to be quiet right about now." To Erin she said "Erin, we need to have a talk in my office later on about some decisions Emer wishes to make. For now, I think it'd be best for your peace of mind if you were to speak to her, no?"

Erin nodded and smiled, her voice slightly cracking as she spoke "That would be really great Zara, thankyou." Zara smiled at the young girl, "Alright everyone, you heard her – out! And Mr. Adams, don't keep her on the line for too long, she needs to talk to her sister."

* * *

"You look like crap."

"Gee thanks James, you're a sweet talker aren't you?"

"That's my job. Now, as charming as I am, I'd say you want to talk to your sister? Let me just warn you, she's still pretty drugged up. She told me to get the unicorns out of the room before, because they were making her thoughts purple?"

Erin laughed, "She said what? Oh god. Just confidentially James, is she okay? Zara was being pretty evasive before, seems she's pretty good at that. Anyway, I'm talking myself off track here – how is she?"

"She's alright. She took a massive jolt when she fell, and it really wasn't looking good. She was unconscious and not reacting to stimuli. But then we got her here, she woke up and her body's been doing well – as well as expected. We've had one shaky walk, to the loo and back, and like you saw the Doc reckons she'll be up and running in no time. Well, next to no time. She's not supposed to walk much for the next 2 weeks but I'm sure you'll see to that."

"You bet your bottom dollar, Annie-"

"That bloody nickname, I swear to god!"

Then came a voice from behind Erin, two actually. "There she is, I think I'll leave you guys too it."

"Thanks Callum," said Lauren, coming over to hug her friend. "That boy, he wouldn't tell me anything. Are you okay? What are you doing in here?"

"Well Lauren –"

"ANNIE?"

"You're bloody hilarious aren't you."

* * *

After Lauren had been informed of what happened, and given Erin another hug, she turned back to James "So are we going to get to see Emer any time soon, or did I get dragged halfway across campus just to sit here and look at your sorry butt?"

"Love you too sis. But yes, here's Emer."

The laptop moved, a blur of blankets and walls before it finally settled on Emer. Her sister's appearance made Erin's legs nearly collapse in shock. She lay on the bed, back supported by about a dozen pillows. Her face was pale, her hair brushed to the side – sticking to her head with sweat and she had a nasal oxygen tube positioned in her nose and over her ears. Her eyes were as bright as ever – probably more from the pain than anything else. When she saw her sister she smiled, licked her lips and said "You look like crap."

"I'm aware."

Lauren figured she'd have to start talking or this would get nowhere, it seemed like the two sisters would be happy to just sit there. Fair enough, one had just been told that her sister was probably never going to walk again only to find out that she'd be fine and the other was suffering from a great number of injury's, least of all concussion.

"Are you okay Ems? Do you want to tell us what happened?"

"I'm good, these drugs do wonders. James is being great, who knows what I've said to him while I'm feeling so funny. OH, that reminds me - has anyone told Kyle?"

"Not yet, we're trying to get on to him but you know how he is Emer." Erin spoke up, shock still etched across her face. At last there was proof; proof that her sister was going to be okay. Doctors could say all they wanted to but they knew nothing in the end, as far as she was concerned. After what had happened to her a few years ago, one doctor had told Zara that she'd be better off in a mental institution. And as for that bloody psychiatrist CHERUB made her see while she was off missions, well let's just say-

Her thoughts were cut off by Emer's continuing of her answer "And as for what happened, that's simple. I was pushed."

_"I was pushed."_

**"I was pushed."**

"I was pushed."

**_"I was pushed."_**

**_

* * *

_****(A/N: Dun, Dun, Dun! What will happen next? Oh btw, the repetitive words are just, like, the way it would repeat in the girl's heads as they heard it - cause it's so major. Anyway, REVIEWS PLEASE? Oh and, if you do, gimme a name? Any name will do.**

**THANKYOU :)**


	19. Resolutions

**(A/N: SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! DON'T KILL ME!)**

"Tell me about that night, how you were feeling, what you wore, what you ate. Tell me all about what happened."

"I, well I was feeling great. I was just about to complete one of the most successful missions in my CHERUB career. I was probably going to get Dale a black shirt for this, at least I'd hoped I would. Dale was the best type of operative you could ask for on a mission, and he was one of my best friends. The family we were targeting, the Flynn's, they had 5 kids. Siobhan was eighteen, Shane was seventeen (they were nicknamed the Irish twins) and Dale hung out with them. I hung around with the actual twins, Aishling and Maeve who were fourteen and then there was Callum, the baby of the family, at eight. So this night, we were hanging at one of the local parks – that's the only place you could go to drink in this town. And we were just waiting for something to happen you know, like, there's not a lot to do there. I guess I was wearing something normal, my memory of that night is a bit blurry – probably something that I wouldn't normally be wearing back here. We weren't really eating, more just huddled around drinking – the kids in that park didn't really have a clue about what they were doing. Dale went off with Siobhan – they had a bit of a thing going, as part of the mission you know, and I suppose eventually everyone just ended up pairing off. From then on, my... my memory is faulty, I can remember flashes – of light, bits of faces, places, all different things. But, I don't know how to explain it – they're all sharded, like a pane of glass that's seen the wrong side of someone on CHERUB campus, like I might see, for example, Aishling's face but I can't see the whole thing. And I know it's her, I do, but I just can't make myself see the rest of her face."

The therapy sessions went much in the same way, the mundane tasks the therapist had Erin perform were finished in a matter of seconds although there was the odd session, positioned every now and then, where Dr. Quinn managed to bring something to the surface - the sessions where both patient and doctor cried, then laughed together. Dr. Quinn was a young woman, probably no older than twenty-three but had grown up in a military family, her father being one of the top-brass - she knew how to keep a secret. She'd been keeping one for most of her life it seemed, ever since she'd found out about CHERUB, aged 12.

With an IQ that would have secured her a spot in the agency, had she needed one, Vanessa Quinn had known about CHERUB for the past eleven years. Ever since she'd been educated and eligible, she'd held a job at CHERUB, not that she could tell anyone about it of course. Her job was to work with the agents that needed help recovering from missions, sometimes she even worked with the mission controllers. And here she was, trying to fight for this girl that she knew needed her help. It hadn't been easy, gaining her trust had been hard but eventually she had won it.

She was worried about the girl in her care, whom seemed to be dealing just fine with what had actually happened that night but whose psychological symptoms were proving harder than expected. Her training was tested, and she had to try and figure out what was wrong – why she felt and appeared fine but things were not going well under the surface. Different theories were tried and tested, some working but others failing miserably.

Over a significant amount of time, and after a lot of effort, Dr. Quinn finally broke through the last of the girl's barriers. At last something seemed to break, and the poor girl spent the better half of several hours crying in her arms. She didn't know what had finally cracked her, but was glad that she seemed to be healing.

"All right, I hate having to say this but seriously kid, please don't let me see you again. You're great, but let's try to keep you safe from now on – yeah?"

"Sounds good to me, Doc."

Erin Reilly made her way slowly across campus, trying to avoid thinking about going to her Arabic beginners class. She'd had her last session with Dr. Quinn just over a week ago and Zara had promised her that the report stating that once again she was ready for missions had been sent off. She was trying to focus on what would happen in the final interview with the Mission Control Board this afternoon, rehearsing answers in her head and thinking about the possible questions they might ask. Lauren was off on a recruitment mission because of a mishap with a shovel (yes, again), Bethany was still acting weird around her, Rat was off god-knows-where; probably following Bethany around, and Gabriel and Dana were at some sort of Sisterhood program organised for the 15-18 year old girls on campus – from which she was given an exemption by two days. That left Callum, Kyle, Jacob, the Twins or James and Bruce.

Any way she went, she'd have to explain to somebody what had happened and why she was going to a meeting with the Board (the whole of Campus had thought that she hadn't been allowed on missions because she was in trouble after her last mission). That meant Bruce, Jacob and the Twins were out, and she didn't particularly feel good telling Kyle and Callum would probably over-react which left James. She supposed he had had to face them only a few weeks before, over the whole 'Cancer' thing so he might have a bit of experience. She shivered at the thought of having to tell someone again but figured this meant that maybe she was really getting better, finally healing.

Arabic didn't seem to last that long, even after the lecture she got for being five minutes late. Now that she had made the resolution to tell someone else, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. Of course Lauren knew but this was different, and telling someone who was that bit removed from the situation meant that maybe she could gain a different perspective.

Now, to find him.

**(A/N: WELL? Reviews please? I'm going to upload a chapter which is just character profiles for my OC's; Erin, Emer, Callum and Jacob. These may be updated as we go, but mostly they are along the same lines as the ones on the CHERUB website. Read them please, because I did put alot of effort into them. Hopefully not too long to wait for next update guys :)**


	20. Character Profiles

_**Characters (James' Epilepsy):**_

**BACKGROUND:**

**Name: **Callum Riley Foster

**Born: ** 19th December 1993, St Albans London

**Birth Name: **Unknown, at his first orphanage he was christened 'Riley'

**Appearance: **Dark Hair, Blue Eyes, Tall and Muscular

**Family:**

Mother – Unknown, thought to be a young teenage girl living in the area of the orphanage Callum was left at.

Father – Unknown.

**Joined CHERUB: **2001

**PROFILE:**

**Physical: **Callum had an athletic body when he came to CHERUB although he was wiry. His athletic ability is unquestionable and his build is big, although not big enough to hamper his ability as an agent. He looks his age and a lot of the girls would be happy to get a smile from him.

**Combat: **Skilled in many martial arts, Callum has conquered many great opponents in the dojo. His only weakness is against girls, although you don't want to probe too far into that. He has good speed and great upper and lower body strength.

**Academic: **Callum is an all-rounder academically, although his strengths lie more in problem solving and tactical plans. He is not so good at art or music but excels in computer studies and practical areas of study.

**Likes: **Kicking a footy around with the guys, helping out in the junior block, sports and winding up his friends (especially the girls)

**Dislikes: **Homework, art, being beaten at sport and some more things that needn't be mentioned.

**COMMENTS:**

"Callum's a great guy. He's one of my bestfriends, we went through basic together and I love him. It's hard to get it through his boofhead though, that he's allowed to fight back against the girls in the dojo."

_Erin Reilly, friend._

"Callum looks like one of those teenagers that's all brawn and no brain, and when he's with his friends he certainly doesn't help that. But once you get him on a mission, you see how capable he really is. That boy has more responsibility, sense and brains than a few top-brass politicians I've known in my life. He's a top bloke, too."  
_John Jones, Mission Controller._

"I like Callum, truly I do. But if he doesn't put a bit of space between himself and my cousin, I think I might just knock his block off."  
_Kyle Blueman, friend._

**BACKGROUND:**

**Name: **Jacob Anthony White

**Born: **15th November 1993, Tottenham London

**Birth Name: **Anthony Aidan Flynn

**Appearance: **("Very definition of tall, dark and handsome" – Bethany Parker) Tall stature, muscular build with dark features and tanned skin.

**Family: **

Mother – Unknown

Father – Unknown

Sister – Former CHERUB

**Joined CHERUB: **2000

**PROFILE:**

**Physical: **Jacob joined CHERUB as the result of a recruitment mission. He is in perfect health and enjoys team sports, although his appearance can sometimes scare the younger children. Jacob is more successful in sports that require brute force.

**Combat: **Like all other CHERUBS, Jacob has mastered a number of different martial arts. He has excellent upper and lower body strength and, for a guy of his size, moves with surprising speed.

**Academic: **Jacob is an all-rounder academically, and is very talented at languages. His intelligence seems to surprise those who get to know him. He is in the top range off CHERUB's IQ range but takes no satisfaction in flaunting his abilities.

**Likes: **Positions of power, Girls, Martial Arts Movies, Gore and Rock music.

**Dislikes: **Being misled, judgemental people, BBQ sauce, Chick-flicks and the Scream movies.

**COMMENTS:**

"Jacob is one of the better guys you'll meet on campus. He appears so brutish that when you get to know him, you become shocked by the intelligence and emotional depth behind his tough guy facade. Smooth operator, although his size can sometimes be a problem."  
_Zara Asker, Chairwoman of CHERUB_

"Jacob's great. He's a great guy to pull a prank on, if you're a girl. He has a great sense of humour, but if you cross the line or do something **really **humiliating to him, then you'd better watch out. Boys, beware – he will snap you faster than a twig. Girls – don't think you're off the hook too easily, after having close girl friends for a while, Jacob knows how to spread a rumour or two. I say this 'cause I am one of his friends, that boy is too dangerous for his own good. God, I hope he doesn't see this."

_Lauren Adams, Friend_

"Jake's an awesome guy. Good to have behind you in a fight, not so good to have up against you in a fight. Hopefully, he'll always have my back."

_Callum Foster, Friend_

**BACKGROUND:**

**Name: **Emer Charlotte Reilly

**Born: **5th October 1999

**Birth Name: **Eimear Charlotte Deidre Kearney

**Appearance: **Dark Hair, tanned complexion, Green-Blue eyes, taller stature than her sister, yet Emer has a smaller build.

**Family:**

Father – Fionn Hugh Kearney, suspected to have died in a plane crash with his wife in 2001

Mother – Catherine Fiona Kearney, died in a plane crash while heavily pregnant in 2001

Sister – _Erin Grace Reilly,_ resident at CHERUB

Cousin – Kyle Blueman, former resident of CHERUB

**Joined CHERUB: **2002

**PROFILE:**

**Physical: **Unlike her sister, Emer grew up on campus and so had access to all of the facilities available although she has acquired the same amount of belts and achievements her sister had at her age. Genetically, her figure comes more from her father – she is tall for her age and is quite skinny although muscular. While on her 83rd day of basic training, Emer experienced a big fall and had to undergo subsequent knee surgery. She was ready to leave CHERUB but much to her credit, fought through it and is now a qualified agent.

**Combat:** Much like her sister, Emer has great speed and good upper body strength. Since her knee injury, she has been building up the muscles in her legs more and is not leaving her areas of vulnerability as open to attack anymore.

**Academic: **With an IQ of 145, Emer is academically all-rounded but experiences the same downfalls in mathematics as her sister does. She, too, can speak Gaelic, German and Russian and is on her way to learning more.

**Likes: **Cop shows, athletics, missions, being able to beat a lot of the boys at sports and food.

**Dislikes: **Mathematics, lessons, discrimination and when Kyle is being protective.

**COMMENTS:**

"She can be a handful sometimes but in the end, it's always good to have her around. A lot of the younger kids look up to her, which isn't always a good thing."

_Chloe Blake, former Junior Block carer_

"I ultimately always end up being stunned by what she can do, I'm jealous of her and her looks, but I love her. And, of course, we fight – there's times when I think how good it was being an only child but then we make up and everything's good again. It never hurts that Kyle's always there to remind me what I'd be left alone with if she weren't there. Anyone touches her and they're mine – protective is an understatement."

_Erin Reilly, sister._

"Emer's a very bright girl, but she never gives herself a chance. Being given the chance to observe her in a classroom environment has opened my eyes to a lot of things about her – her insecurities, her flaws and ultimately, her strength. I used to just think of her as one of my mates' cousins/little sister but now I just see her for what she is, sure she's Kyle's little cousin and Erin's little sister, but she's a great kid and she has experienced unimaginable things. I admire her so much."  
_James Adams, tutor_.

**BACKGROUND:**

**Name:** Erin Grace Reilly

**Born:** 9th March 1994, Dublin City, Dublin

**Birth Name:** Grace Brigid Erin Kearney

**Appearance:** Dark Hair, Green-Blue Eyes, athletic build

**Family: **

Father – Fionn Hugh Kearney, suspected to have died in a plane crash with his wife in 2001

Mother – Catherine Fiona Kearney, died in a plane crash while heavily pregnant in 2001

Sister – _Emer Charlotte Reilly,_ resident at CHERUB

Cousin – Kyle Blueman, former resident of CHERUB

**Joined CHERUB: **2002

**PROFILE:**

**Physical: **Unlike most young girls that join CHERUB, Erin had a long history of participation in sport and martial arts – she held two black belt equivalents (because of her age she could not be acknowledged as having been trained at such a high level), in Judo and Taekwondo respectively, and was on her way to earning two more when her parents died. Since joining CHERUB, she has gained those two belts and continued to further her success. In late 2005, three years after joining CHERUB and just months after achieving her grey shirt, Erin sustained a bad shoulder injury that could have cost her her CHERUB career. Three surgeries and a lot of rehabilitation later, her injury barely impacts on her work or social life anymore.

**Combat: **Erin has great speed and has taught many older, bigger opponents never to underestimate opponents smaller and, seemingly more naive, than them. She has great reflexes and good upper body strength.

**Academic: **With an IQ of 150 (which she has told very few people about, but yet all of CHERUB campus knows) Erin excels mostly in language and literary areas, although she has very good artistic skills as well. Her mathematic skills are commendable, but are easily surpassed by the skills of the Adams' siblings. She can currently speak 6 other languages fluently (Gaelic, Italian, German, Russian, Cantonese and French) and is studying two more (Mandarin and Arabic).

**Likes: **Loud music, nail polish, hair dye, hanging out with friends, cooking and tutoring.

**Dislikes: **Bethany, cheaters, needles, confrontation, discrimination of any sort.

**COMMENTS:**

"I thought she'd be an easy fight, boy was I wrong. You'd better watch your back if you step into a battle with her, that girl's got skills."

_Andy Lagan, classmate_

"She's smart, loyal, intimidating for her size, handles herself well and has a good head on those shoulders. But she's also impulsive, quick to act if someone she loves is in danger and it took a long time to teach her not to be so defensive. She's a good operative, but sometimes she lets personal things get in the way of that. All over, she is one of CHERUB's finest."

_Dr Terence McAfferty, ex-chairman of CHERUB_

"She's definitely easy on the eyes, and that's all of CHERUB'S male population speaking, but she never has a boyfriend, everyone's just waiting for her to get with that Callum guy."

_Anonymous, classmate_


End file.
